


Sunny Days Ahead

by Lecos



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Gym Circuit, Kanto and Johto, OCs - Freeform, Teambuilding, Vulpix - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-03 01:58:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11522142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lecos/pseuds/Lecos
Summary: "A licensed pokemon trainer sees the world in an entirely different light and will experience the roads and paths in a way unique to the team they've built. No two trainers will ever have the same story to tell, even after wandering the same stretch of land. That, in my opinion, is one of the greatest beauties of the gym circuit and all the travels this undertaking entails." -Professor Oak in a recorded lecture to a group of graduates in Pallet Town, as listened to by Elain the evening before her last exam tournament.





	1. Chapter 1

"Don't you lose," Ben said for the third time that day. "If you want to go ahead with this nonsense, at least don't you dare lose."

Elain was too tired to argue. Sleep hadn’t come last night, much as it had avoided her the night before, and every other night this week. _I'm ready for this. I was ready for this last year. I can do it._ She was scratching Kia, her vulpix, behind the ear, and the fox, dozing away in the shadow of the tree, returned a lazy purr for it.

Ben was walking up and down in front of her. He was still wearing his police uniform, though his nidorino was nowhere in sight. "Dad managed to juggle the shifts around, by the way, so we'll all be there after all. Wasn't easy for him and probably cost him a favour or two, so-"

She didn't hear the rest of it. Instead she let her head slump back against the tree, her view fixed on some cloud or another. _If I lose, he's never going to let me live it down._ For a brief moment, she considered if it was her brother's form of motivation, of spurring her on, but she dismissed the notion quickly enough. _He's an ass, that's all._

"-are you even listening?"

"I'm stupid for doing this," she said, "I know the tale by now." Ben had made sure to hammer his opinion into her head from the start, for more than three years now. In the beginning he had still tried to talk her out of it, when he had just started as a recruit in the police force. He had always wanted her to follow him, just as he was following their father. A slowpoke was strolling past them, not sparing any of them as much as a glance. Two more were lying around in the sun close by, one of them snoring.

"We just want to help you."

"Knock it off," she said, a bit louder than intended. Kia was awake, looking up at her, ears askew. Elain apologized with another round of ear scratching. "I've passed the theoretical exam for the trainer's license. I raised Kia. Even Metapod and Trigger, to a degree. It's plain that I'm serious about it, so if you really want to help me, then it's about time you fall in line and support my decision, don't you think?" Kia yawned in agreement.

Ben shook his head and left without another word, carefully stepping past the slowpokes.

She leaned back with a sigh, intent to enjoy some quiet as long as her mind let her. In about three hours, the practical exam for her trainer's license, a small tournament with other testees, would be held in the Azalea Gym. When she raised her hand to fix back a strand of hair that had fallen into her face, Elain noticed she was shaking. She quickly buried her fingers in Kia’s fur again and closed her eyes.

 

***

 

The mountains rose from the north-east down to the east, throwing long shadows over the town until the sun crept around. On the opposite side, the Ilex Forest loomed, stretching far into the north-west. Azalea was boxed in between the two, not easily reached. The local pokeball artisan Kurt, the Slowpoke Well and, of course, the Gym, were the three reasons people even bothered visiting at all, Elain guessed.

Theo came up to the tree with his boots soaked and the lower fringes of his pants dripping wet, leaving little doubt as to which one of three he had just been to. His eevee was strolling alongside, always curious, sniffing the same flowers and grasses it had sniffed for months and months. "Yo," he said. "Nervous yet?" He settled down, leaning his fishing rod against the tree trunk.

"Weirdly enough, not as much as yesterday. Or the day before. Or the entire last week."

"You'll pass with flying colours, I bet," he said, emptying some of his pockets. He always seemed to carry a bit of bait around with him, live bait at that.

She shrugged, bringing up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun that was making it past the leaves above. "You caught anything?" He had shown her how to fish a year ago, but she had never gotten her own rod.

Theo always swore that there were lakes down there in the well, if only you took the right turn in the right tunnel. Small puddles of water was all Elain had ever seen, but he had managed to catch a poliwag somewhere, so maybe there was something to his claim. Today, though, he was shaking his head at the question. "A magikarp or two, but nothing I kept or battled for. May have found a way deeper down though, but there was no time left to explore it."

"You're running out of time if you want to map the cave."

Eevee came crawling into his lap, ears twitching, before he settled down for a nap. "I'll be back to get my badge, though. And then, with all the experience of mapping the other caves, the one of our little Union Cave is going to be even more glorious."

They hadn't set a date or a time for meeting here, and yet after a few minutes of idling in the fading shade, the last of their group walked up to join them with quick steps, almost hopping along the path. Lyz, with hair as red as the freckles on her cheeks, was followed closely by her machop, Dizzy. The pokemon was jogging to keep up, but the effort didn't reach her face. "Sooo," Lyz said, stopping only to draw in a much needed breath. "Today. We win." She was grinning from ear to ear. "Machop!" her pokemon said, as if to support her claim.

Kia sat up all of a sudden, ignoring the newcomers, looking up. She burped a short stream of fire and looked after the fading smoke, before Elain scratched her behind the ears again to settle her down. It was common for a vulpix to expel excess heat this way, but Kia still seemed surprised by her own body from time to time. Elain sighed. "One of us will.”

"All of us will get their license, though," Theo said.

"Some of us will," Elain said, but Lyz gave her a mock punch against the arm.

"Stop being so gloomy, do you really think Bugsy is going to let any of us fail?"

Elain ignored both the verbal and physical rebuke. "He failed three people last year. Two the year before, and five the year before that. He seems easy-going enough, but he still has a responsibility to weed out the ones he thinks unsuited for the license."

Lyz narrowed her eyes. "Your brother was here, wasn't he? I saw his nidorino in the kennels earlier, wounded, so he's off duty. Again. Did he talk you down? I swear, I should've knocked him out years ago."

"Years ago he would've tried to kiss you more than fight you," Theo said. "His crush on you was so obvious it made even me cringe."

"Enough of my brother," Elain said. "If I get my license I won't have to put up with him for much longer."

They fell silent at that, each of them thinking about the next few days, the coming months and maybe years. _The gym circuit. Sooner or later I'll start with that, after I have a team._ She knew Theo wasn't as interested in the competition, but a trainer's license meant he would get to explore and fish and wander wherever he wanted to without too much scrutiny. And Lyz... _we might well meet on opposite sides in a match, and soon._ Junior leagues were a regular thing in many bigger cities, contests for beginners, for intermediates, for everyone who wasn't quite ready yet to challenge the local gym for a badge, but was on their way towards it.

The sun stood above the southern-most edges of the Ilex Forest by now, a sure enough sign that afternoon was approaching fast. "We should get going," Elain said, already scrambling to her feet. She threw Kia a treat, checked that the others were following, and set out. Whether out of nervousness or concentration or simply for the sake of enjoying some silent company before the matches, neither of them talked while they made their way back to town.

 

***

 

Azalea Town was a sleepy village in comparison to most gym cities, but maybe especially because of that, local gym events always drew a good crowd. Her mother would argue that it was her financial genius at work, but Bugsy deserved a lot of the credit, as did his team. They were always good for a show. Today, with trainer licenses at stake, was no different.

The gym, sitting on a hill in the southern part of the city, was a giant greenhouse, its glass dome showing an enormous tree growing tall within. For today's event, the path up to the gym was lined with stalls selling drink and snacks and some other, supposedly local specialities. Water from the Slowpoke Well, woodcraft created using the wood of the Ilex Forest, and even Kurt had come out of his hiding hole up on the northern hills to present some of his work. _Maybe he'll actually sell one today._ The man had a reputation to deny customers he thought unsuited for his special pokeballs, and many a traveller had left his shop disgruntled or outright cursing. Maizie, his granddaughter, would usually run after them, smiling, asking them to come back in the future, but they rarely did. In between the stalls, half-hidden in the bushes and other undergrowth of the southern offshoots of the Ilex Forest, the gym personnel had planted cardboard images of bug pokemon. They looked life-like enough to the unwary eye, and with so many weedle's, kakuna's, caterpie's and metapod's surrounding you, many visitors from afar quickly forgot all about them. A group of little boys, playing tag while their parents were busy at one of the stalls, was closing in on one of the cardboard spinarak's, until the spider pokemon hissed at them briefly before launching itself up its string and back into the higher branches of a nearby tree. The children had frozen in their tracks, but their surprise turned to delight quickly enough when recovering from the shock became a race of who was the least brave of them.

"The times when we still fell for that," Theo said next to her, grinning.

Lyz laughed. "I remember you falling back on your ass, your mouth so wide open I thought the caterpie would just stroll right in. I never fell for that."

"Sure you did, back when-"

They kept arguing about it, all the while putting one foot in front of the other, nodding their hello's to the people they knew, and accepting their good wishes for the coming matches. There was some pride towns took in _their_ licensed trainers, and some would even rise to be celebrities when they came from places like Goldenrod City with its many radio shows and tv programs. Azalea hadn't had a noteworthy trainer of its own for generations; even Bugsy was a foreigner in that sense, having settled in the village to be close to the Ilex Forest and its pokemon population.

The air was hot inside the gym, heated up by the sun since the early morning, but some of the lower windows were open to allow for a breeze. There were no stalls here, and while some gyms had food vendors inside, walking around to sell some finger food, none of that was happening in Azalea. The two courts for matches were dotted with high shrubbery and smaller trees while a lazy stream ran diagonally through each of them to meet up in between the two. Stands for visitors were on both long sides, though the stands in between the courts were interrupted in the middle by the giant tree which, with time, had grown into both courts at once. It's thick roots lay sprawled almost to either side of the dome.

Neither Elain nor her friends would be waiting on the stands today, and only one of the courts would be in use. Eight of her generation had qualified for this final part of the practical exam, so the number of matches was small enough to have all of them happen one after the other, all day long. "Local news present and accounted for," Lyz said, her eyes fixed on a group of three people on the stands. Azalea Town was too small to warrant a tv team, but the newspaper journalists had their smartphones out, filming a little, making notes and creating voice clips.

Theo shrugged. "The money is a lot more interesting, if you ask me. Can see you through a good while of travelling without having to worry about anything or having to pay back the Trainer Fund. With a bit of luck, some scouts for sponsorships are in, too."

"Gotta place well for that, though," Elain said while gathering Kia up in her arms. It wouldn't do to set some part of the gym in flames with an accidental fiery burp. "Might as well aim for the ponyta."

"It's a rumour," he said. "The winner gets a pokemon, sure, but I heard it's going to be an eevee."

"Someone said it's to be a squirtle."

They made for the small alcove at the far end of the court, a space set aside for trainers and shielded from view by high wooden dividers. _I'd like a squirtle._ All of them had fought matches in the gym before during the qualifiers, and the preparation for the theoretical exam three years ago had been held in here as well. Other cities had proper classrooms for that, she had heard, but in Azalea the gym personnel taught in the middle of the court, and sometimes Bugsy had come out for that himself, though rarely.

"Your trainer license," he had said one time, "does not depend on your placement during the last tournament. I will consider your performance throughout the time we've spent together, ever since your theoretical examination qualified you for your starter pokemon."

That had taken a huge load off her shoulders back then, but her brother had made sure to pile that right back on top of her.

The small waiting area was already crowded with all eight of them present. Small groups had formed here and there, clusters of friends or acquaintances, and most of them had some pokemon or another out with them. Jason was the only one to stand on his own. _Hatching out some strategies, most like._  Two gym staffers were making the rounds, handing out a card with a number to each participant. "Attention, please," one of them, Tom, said. He had led the classes on food and sustenance for various pokemon types and had helped Elain out quite a bit when Kia had developed some stomach cramps once. "We'll draw your match-ups in a matter of minutes. As this will be a smaller event, everything will be very manageable. For bigger tournaments in the future, remember that you will be responsible for keeping track of your matches, no one else. You know the rules. Only two pokemon allowed, you get one switch for every switch your opponent does or k.o. they suffer."

Conversations had died down. _Who will it be._ She knew a lot about the pokemon of her peers that were with her. Countless sparring sessions had seen to that, but there was always the chance that someone had developed a new trick they'd been holding back.

"First up," he said, looking down at his smartphone, "Numbers four against six."

Elain didn't hear the next match, or the one after. She felt Lyz giving her hand a squeeze, before she even realized they'd been holding on to each other. Kia was nudging her snout against Elain's other hand. Images were flashing through her mind, of Dizzy in training, the rocks she had shattered, the kicks and punches she could throw. Lyz would be her first opponent.

"You okay?" Lyz asked, still not letting go of her hand.

 _She only uses Dizzy. She's never used her abra in a fight. It'll be one versus two._ Elain nodded, still dazed. _Of all the people to fight against first._

Tom was herding them out. Someone was wishing them good luck, and she felt a hand on her shoulder, if only for a moment. The first match of the day would be theirs, she realized with a start. _This is going horribly wrong._

There was a coin flip she didn't remember afterwards, and Lyz, after one last hug, made off to the opposite side of the court. _I forgot to say hello to mom and dad._

"Pokemon into their balls," the ref said. _Gilly. Gilly is refereeing this._ Kia sat down on her haunches, waiting patiently for the temporary capture. "Choose your first."

 _She only ever uses Dizzy. A fighter type._ Her hands closed around the pokeball she had chosen. _He's not as strong, but... the advantage is there._

"Go!"

The pokeballs flew into the air, disgorging the pokemon in a red stream of energy. Dizzy made an appearance on the far side of the court. "Take flight, Trigger!" she yelled, and her spearow immediately made for one of the higher branches of the trees on her side of the field.

There was no announcer for an event like this, and somehow Elain was glad for it. Her own thoughts were already loud enough in her mind, and her head felt like she had taken a pounding. _Calm down. You have the time. Dizzy can't touch you up there._ Truth be told, Elain doubted how much Trigger could even do to an enemy like Dizzy. _Beaks and claws from above, that's all we have._ "Peck at it!" she said. Trigger shrieked and let himself drop a couple of meters before opening his wings. Spearows were mostly known to be indifferent fliers, depending on many wingbeats to keep themselves aloft, exhausting in their frequency. It was more than enough to carry him on top of Dizzy and dive against him.

"Guard!" Lyz yelled, her voice almost faint this far down the gym. Dizzy went into a crouch, both arms crossed in front of her face, and let Trigger’s sharp beak wash over her. When the bird pokemon withdrew back to its branch, it left scratches on Dizzy’s arms, but nothing else.

 _Not much of an effect, but whittling it down is all we need to do. Tire it out, maybe._ "Dizzy,-"

"Cover!"

"-claws!"

This time, Dizzy didn't stand to receive the attack. The grass and bushes weren't dense or high enough to actually hide in, but she simply made for the nearest tree to put it between herself and the approaching spearow, forcing him to fly around it, losing speed and steam. The attack, again, left little more than scratches.

 _She can't touch Trigger though. It doesn't matter that I do little damage, as long as she doesn't do any. And I still have Kia._ "Again!" she yelled, and Trigger was quick to obey, dropping down from his tree.

"Around!" Lyz said. Dizzy started running circles around the tree, forcing Trigger to make sharp bends and turns. It cost him more speed this time, and he had to break off the attack. "Grab it!" Lyz yelled before the bird pokemon could get away. Dizzy’s hand shot upward and got a good grip on one of Trigger’s claws. Some people on the stands gasped, and most chatter died away the same moment as Dizzy dragged the spearow down to the ground, holding him firmly.

"Back!" Elain yelled, her voice almost breaking, while activating the recovery beam on Trigger’s pokeball. There were all sorts of injuries he could have sustained in that hold, a chop against the wing joints, for example, and there was no reason to take that risk. The fight had been over the moment Trigger had been plucked out of the air. _And way quicker than I had hoped. No other choice now._ Kia made her appearance, burping a small flame in greeting. _Too soon. Machop isn't nearly tired out enough yet._

Nonetheless, Lyz was happy to wait for Elain to make the first move again. Images came to Elain's mind, of the countless sparring matches the two of them had fought with Dizzy and Kia. She hadn't lost all of them, but many, and sometimes her vulpix had needed the attention of the local pokecenter afterwards. _She never holds back. I can't either._ "Kia, embers!"

A torrent of small flames erupted from Kia’s mouth, blazing halfway across the court. Shrubbery caught fire here and there, and with the dry and hot air within the gym, the flames quickly spread across the grass. Lyz commands were drowned out against the crackling of the flames, but Dizzy jumped to the side, taking cover behind the tree once more.

"Again," Elain yelled, "bring down the tree!" Kia focused her efforts, spraying the tree from trunk to top. _Sorry, Bugsy._ She didn't know if there was a penalty for setting half the gym on fire. _But people usually expect to fight bug pokemon here. You better be able to deal with a bit of fire._ Dizzy’s cover, in the meantime, had turned into a torch by itself, and burning leaves were gliding through the air.

"Into the water!" Lyz yelled. By now, there was no way to see her friend anymore, or even parts of the visitor stands. The fire had thrown up heavy, black smoke over the tree and parts of the thicker bushes. The splashing of water, though, was loud enough to echo across the field.

 _It's going to close the distance using the waterway._ The small artificial river ran across the court from one far corner to the other, just to double back below the visitor stands. At the edge of the court, she saw two of the gym staff discussing something, talking into each other’s ears. _Did I go too far?_ They had pokeballs drawn, but didn't seem resolved to call whatever pokemon were inside quite yet. "Kia," she said, "prepare some wisps."

With the smoke getting thicker and what grass had remained untouched concealing most of the water, Elain didn't spot the machop until it burst out of the water a few feet next to Kia. Her pokemon reacted faster than she did, immediately launching two of the three wisps at Dizzy while giving a high-pitched roar. There was an attempt of a dodge, failing as the wisps changed trajectory. Dizzy’s left arm and better part of her torso went up in flames. _Distance, or press the advantage?_ "Kia, dash in!"

Dizzy was still struggling with the burns, first attempting to beat out the flames on her chest, then turning to make for the water again. If Lyz gave any commands during the whole encounter, Elain couldn't hear them. _Maybe she can't even see._ Kia’s quick attack hit Dizzy in the side, having little more effect than causing it to stumble. Before Kia could follow her attack up, Dizzy vaulted away and splashed into the water.

 _I just have to keep it at a distance. Will o' wisps, embers, even confusion rays... this is doable._ Still, something kept tugging at the back of Elain's mind. _I never won this easily against Dizzy before._ The pokemon usually had the speed to break through any attempt to keep it at bay with fire. _Maybe I was never ready to go all out like this before? Or-_

"Dizzy," Lyz voice boomed from the other side of the court, "focus!"

 _-she didn't give it any commands until just now._ "Kia, back!"

Vulpix was as fast and nimble as you'd expect of a fox pokemon, but Dizzy burst out of the small stream again, water flying away from its scorched torso, and immediately fell into a sprint.

"Wisps, Kia! Wisps and flames!" The last of the will o' wisps went flying, followed closely by a torrent of embers. It wasn't enough. Dizzy ducked low under the wisp. Fires went up in front of it where the embers hit the ground, but she leapt through them, ignoring the flames licking at her legs and arms. Then they were entangled in close combat. The first attack was a low kick that almost catapulted Kia against the nearby tree. Before she could get her bearings, the machop was on her again, punching down, again and again, before the red recovery beam ended the encounter.

It took Gilly a couple of moments to make sure she had seen correctly through the smoke. "Winner, Elizabeth!"


	2. Chapter 2

Elain couldn't hear any responses from the stands, couldn't see any of their faces. _I lost. In the first round. I lit half the gym up in flames and I still lost._

People were shouting close by. The two gym staffers she had noticed before had released some pokemon, pidgeys, goldinis and a starmy. The local firefighter department had squirtles and an entoron on site, and all the water pokemon extinguished the flames quickly enough. Some additional window panels stood open by now, and the pidgeys pushed out what smoke remained. The court she was leaving behind was nothing but a charred shell of what it had been five or so minutes ago. Little of the grass remained, less of the shrubbery, and two of the trees had lost leaves and their outer trunks to the flames. _And I still lost._

Someone took her by the shoulder, shoving her away from the court. "Hey, Elain," Theo said. "You better get Kia looked at." Other people were moving towards her now, one of the reporters, her parents. Lyz was still on the other side of the court with her own family surrounding her. _I might have just lost my shot at the license. Even if placement isn't the only factor._

"Do we want to shift to the other court?" one of the staffers was saying.

_Placement isn't the only factor._ Her hands were shaking again, and with a start she realized that Kia and her fluffy fur wasn't there for her to hide it in. She had water in her eyes. _The smoke. It's stinging._

One of the local pokecenter's nurses was beside her all of a sudden. "Do you want me to take your pokemon?" he asked. Two of her assistants were hovering around, another was on his way towards Lyz. "We don't have the same equipment on-site as we have in the pokecenter, but I'd still recommend a preliminary check-up. Bugsy has some equipment in the laboratory."

"I'll come with," she said, forcing a quick, desolate smile on her face for her parents before falling in step behind the nurse. _If I go with them, I'll have to sit on the stands for the rest of the time. Next to Ben._ Her brother hadn't come down to the court with her father and mother.

Everyone seemed in motion all of a sudden, walking parallel to the nurse and herself. "They're using the other court for the rest of the tournament," the nurse said. "You made quite a mess out of this one." There was a smile in her voice, but it still made Elain flinch. "You two," she said to her remaining assistants, "will stay here. Call me if something goes wrong during the next match." They walked on, into an area of the gym Elain hadn't seen before. Most gyms were huge compounds consisting of several buildings for research, teaching, for selling merchandise, fighting, sometimes even providing lodgings and restaurants. Azalea Town's gym, by comparison, was small. The greenhouse dome containing the two courts took up most of the gym, and the laboratory was nothing but an outbuilding connected via a short gravel path.

"And who do we have here," Bugsy said, looking up from a table with some sample on it. Two webaraks were dangling from their strings attached to the low ceiling. He had a young look about him, Elain had always thought, far younger than he had any right to be as a gym leader and already established researcher. "The match didn't exactly go as planned, I take it?"

She hadn't even realised that he hadn't watched in the gym. Instead, one of the screens showed a camera feed of the greenhouse from somewhere near the top of the dome. From that high up, the devastation she had inflicted on the court looked even worse, like scars wrought into what had formerly been a tranquil forest. "Not exactly," she said. "Sorry about... that."

He looked up briefly, his brows furrowed, before he seemed to grasp what she meant. "It happens," he said. "The risk of running a bug-centred gym."

"The pokemon," the nurse said, nudging Elain onward. A couple of devices stood off to the side, and Elain recognized the big diagnostic machine that would detect any damage to the pokemon while they were still inside their pokeballs. "A quick scan, then we can see whether they need to be brought into the pokecenter."

_The kicks and punches were pretty bad. If the hold against Trigger damaged the wing joints..._

Loud beeping and whistling tore her out of her thoughts. "No serious injuries sustained," the nurse said. "Leave them with me for the rest of the tournament and they should be fine, unless I get more critical patients soon."

Elain nodded, and when she didn't make a move to go away, the nurse smiled and shoved her back towards Bugsy before returning to her charges.

The gym leader was working on a cocoon sample, she realized. The shell had taken on a deep green tinge. "It's almost the same shade as my metapod's."

He looked up at that. "Right," he said slowly, "I forgot you had one."

"Why would you know what pokemon I have?"

"Well I gave you the starter," he said, flashing a smile. "I remember who I entrust which pokemon with. Apart from that, I try to keep track of the bug pokemon the students have caught. I have my reasons."

No explanation followed, so Elain turned her attention to the screen. Theo's fight had started in earnest, it seemed, and she could hear the cheering from the stands all the way to the laboratory. _Were they as excited for my match as well? Or just afraid I’d set them all on fire?_

"A good move," Bugsy said. On screen, Theo's poliwag was washing away the acid the enemy slugma had left on the court, like puddles of purple rain. A lot of the plants had already turned dead and rotten.

_That court won't look pretty after the first fight either._

"You see what I meant?" Bugsy asked. "It's not just fire-types. Poison can ruin a gym just as well. So can water. Have you ever seen what happens when an onyx fights in a space as confined as this?"

She shook her head. There was a distant memory buried in her head, of a trainer who had nearly brought down the hill on which the gym stood because of a pokemon's tunnelling ability, but it had happened years ago, long before she had paid attention to the gym.

Bugsy laughed. "You don't want to. The majority of our budget is set aside for restoring the courts. We have some spare plants outside, a bit to the south. We can usually get by with those." He looked up to the screen. "Poisoning the ground we are planting in could turn out to be a problem, though." His attention returned to the sample after that. Microscopes, petri dishes, small scalpels... Bugsy and some of the research-oriented staffers had given them classes on the research aspect as well, maybe hoping to draw some of them into the field.

It hadn't worked for Elain. _It would've probably satisfied Ben, though. Maybe._ The fight was still going, Theo's poliwag was still countering every move the enemy slugma was making. It was a cautious, slow-paced affair and rather than watching, she drifted back towards the nurse. Kia was out of her pokeball, yelping happily when she saw Elain.

"Hey there," she said while scratching the vulpix behind the ear.

"Your spearow is fine," the assistant said. "The fight ended before anything could happen. Vulpix will need to take it easy for the rest of the day at least. She has some nasty bruises here," he said, pointing at Kia’s belly, "here and here. That machop throws a good punch."

"What happened to her?" Elain had expected to find Lyz with the nurse by now. The burns hadn't looked bad, but surely they would need more care than a simple look-over by an assistant. "And where is Nurse Joy?"

"We transferred machop to the pokecenter. Nurse Joy accompanied her." Elain's mouth dropped open. Dizzy had looked fighting fit throughout, even after- "Will o' Wisps are among the hottest flames out there," he said, glancing at Kia. "Machop will need some treatment, a sterile environment for a day or two, and then we will have to keep an eye on the healing process for a while, most likely. It won't take nearly as long as a human burn, thankfully."

_She can't win the tournament anymore. She can't fight with just her abra._ She gathered Kia up in her arms, carefully avoiding putting pressure on any of the bruises. _Placement isn't the only factor._

"You going to take her with you?" he asked, nodding at Kia.

"Yeah," Elain said, taking Trigger’s pokeball out of the machine. "Thanks for looking after them." Bugsy was still at it with his cocoon sample, almost hunching over it, the matches on the screen forgotten. It was Jason's turn by now, though his ponyta had just finished trampling over the enemy tangela. What parts of the court the slugma had left uninfected with its slime, ponyta had set aflame. _I never noticed the courts getting so much damage when I was just watching the matches._ "How are you going to determine who gets a license?"

He didn't jump or show any other sign that he hadn't expected her, but neither did he look up from the petri dish he was working on. "Nervous about your first round elimination? Don't worry. We have notes on you ever since we gave you that vulpix. We'll announce the new license holders some time tomorrow before noon, we'll send you all a message when we know. Are you going to watch the rest of the matches?"

She shook her head before realizing that he wasn't watching her. "No. Going to visit Lyz- Elizabeth in the pokecenter."

"Ah yes, she forfeited. Unlucky, I guess, but a lesson on depending on one pokemon only."

_We were supposed to be done with lessons, though. Or were we?_ She said her goodbyes and snuck off the path that would have led back through the gym proper. Instead, she followed a smaller track that led north, away from the greenhouse and directly towards the town. _If my parents spot me then they'll want to talk to me. And if my parents are still there, then so is Ben._ His taunts were already echoing through her head. _Better not._

Azalea Town seemed almost empty with most people hanging out somewhere around the gym, either at the fair or within to watch. Deserted streets and closed shops made for an eerie image, and she hugged Kia a little closer, enjoying the warmth from both fur and the natural heat the fire pokemon was emitting. "It was close this time around," she said. "We'll do better next time."

She passed their home on her way to the pokecenter, a simple two-storey building. Her family lived on the first floor, another one was renting out the ground level. The windows were closed. _Guess they're still at the gym. Good._ She slipped inside to gather up some snacks, both for the pokemon and for herself, and hurried away.

Even the pokecenter, usually the hub of the town, was almost empty. "Look, I just want a room for one night, surely I can get that cheaper than-"

Hugo was manning the reception at the moment with an expression of serenity plastered on his face. He had worked at the centre for as long as Elain could remember. "Lyz is down the hallway, second room to the left," he said, interrupting the customer before Elain had even settled down to wait. She mouthed a thanks and was off, leaving the two people behind.

Lyz was alone in the room, sitting on a hospital bed. "We both screwed up," she said with a weak smile on her face when she saw Elain.

"Where's Dizzy? She okay?" Kia hopped down out of her arms and marched up towards Lyz with a slow and awkward gait, nuzzling her snout against the girl's leg.

"In her pokeball. Nurse Joy treated her a little and said the rest was for the machines to do." Lyz took up the task to scratch Kia. "How is the rest of the tournament going?"

"Don't know. I was in the lab with Kia and Bugsy, didn't really pay attention. Jason won his match, that's all I know."

Lyz snorted. "No wonder. I hope he doesn't win, Elain, he'll never let us live it down otherwise." _My brother is already not going to let me live down losing._ "Come here," Lyz said after seeing Elain's face drop. "Bugsy knows we're good trainers. Just some bad luck we had there in the tournament."

Elain sat down next to Lyz, and both leaned against each other with Kia sprawled out across both of their laps. "It's going to delay you," Elain said.

"A few days, yeah. Bit of rest will do Dizzy good. We've been training too much, I think. Tired her out too much. Me too, maybe. She shouldn't have been caught by the wisps in the first place. And don't you dare suggest to wait for me."

"If I get my license-"

"When you get your license..."

Elain sighed. "When I get my license, I'm out of here in a matter of minutes. Don't worry about that. We'll meet again on the road soon enough."

"You can count on that. Now, what are we going to do with the rest of our day? With Dizzy in the machine, there's no real reason for me to hang around in the centre. Want to go back to the gym and watch the rest of the tournament?"

"No," she said, almost blurting out the word. "No." She opened her bag instead, producing a couple of bags of chips, packaged donuts, and some sweets for Kia which began sniffing _her_ package immediately. "Give this... give this to Dizzy when she's back on her feet, will you?" It was a simple box of treats for pokemon on the outside, but Elain had made a point to gather up the machop’s favourites over the past few weeks. She had meant it as a simple farewell gift in the beginning, but now it seemed to have an apologetic note to it.

Lyz smiled after taking a look inside. "I will. I'll make sure she knows who she got it from. Now, though..." she said, grabbing her own favourites out of the pile of snacks. "Let's relax for a while."

 

 

* * *

 

 

The messages came early next morning on both their phones. _Be at the gym at noon,_ it read, and Elain groaned. Her head was pounding; her arms and legs felt weak. She hadn't slept a lot. _If either of us gets their license, this'll be our last time together for quite a while._ Somehow she knew Lyz had thought the same. Neither of them had suggested going to sleep.

She had sent her mother a text, explaining that she was staying with Lyz in the pokecenter. The expected outrage never came, and instead both of her parents had paid them a visit after the tournament had finished. Bob didn't, though, and Elain was still glad for that small mercy. _Maybe I should've stayed with my parents._ They hadn't showed any disappointment they might have felt, and especially her father had been fascinated by seeing Kia’s wisps in action. Every vulpix learned how to manipulate the purple flames sooner or later, but her father had surprised her one day with one of the training machines meant to pass on that particular knowledge. Kia had demonstrated the attack a couple of times since then, whenever they felt her control had grown a lot. This had been the first time for her father to see the fruits of his present in an actual combat, though. She had never asked where he had gotten it from.

 Her parents had also told them that Theo had lost his match, though no one was quite sure how. His poliwag had seemed to have the situation under control... right up to the point where it didn't. The overall winner, though... Lyz had groaned for a full minute after she had learned that Jason had made it to the top.

"Do you want to stop by my place to get some fresh clothes?" Elain asked. Lyz' home was at the far end of town, at the foot of the hill where Kurt had his shop.

"You really think any of the others will look any better than us?" Lyz asked, running a hand through her dishevelled hair.

"Jason, probably."

"Don't. Don't remind me."

In the end, they decided against stopping for a change of clothes. The part of the pokecenter that doubled as hostel for trainers had a shower, and Hugo just waved them right through when they asked. "Gotta be enough," Lyz said before slipping under the running water.

Going by the smell they were exposed to about half an hour later, most of the others hadn't even taken the time to shower. There were fifteen of them now, all potential trainers of their generation from Azalea, even those that hadn't qualified for the tournament. _Placement is not a factor._ Performance was, though, and people who had reached the semi-final or the final definitely looked a lot better than the rest of them. _There's no limit on how many licenses he can give out. He could make all of us to full trainers, if he wanted to._ He wouldn't, she knew. But the fantasy was nice.

Both courts lay in ruins, trees charred black, bushes burnt down, and grass withered and dead. Poison and fire had brought the greenhouse low, all apart from the huge tree in the middle. Some of its roots had taken damage, but nothing extensive enough to bring the giant down. Theo settled down next to them.

Elain considered asking how he had lost, but the look on Theo's face convinced her not to. Besides, Bugsy marched out on the court toward them, flanked by Gilly and Tom, clipboards in most of their hands. Only Gilly was carrying a suitcase of sorts. "First of all," Bugsy said, "congratulations to Jason for his victory yesterday, and well fought to everyone else. We had some good performances, even if some of them..." he trailed off, his view gliding over his two courts, "left my gym in a slightly demolished state." Some of the trainers looked down at their feet or were otherwise avoiding eye contact with the gym staffers. "No hard feelings," he said, grinning. "Now then, the reason why you're here."

Gilly stepped forward, put the suitcase on the ground and revealed the pokedexes inside. They were shiny red and looked like they were coming straight from assembly. "No reason to draw this out," she said to Bugsy when she took a step back again.

He nodded, more to himself than his staffer. "Theodore. Take a pokedex and then step forward and wait with Tom off to the side, please. Congratulations."

Lyz was the first to cheer, closely followed by Elain. _We both lost in the first round. If he gets one, then-_

"Jason," Bugsy said, "take a pokedex, then step forward. Some more congratulations to you."

No one cheered this time. Jason hadn't really made any friends since he had moved to Azalea Town two years ago. Bugsy went on with his list, reading name after name. Five people already waited next to Tom, most of them giddy, fondling their pokedexes. _He never picks more than ten. Rarely more than eight. If I come home losing in round one and without a license then-_

"Elain," Bugsy said, and she didn't quite hear the rest. She got up as if in slow motion and followed everyone else's example, her fingers hovering for a moment above the suitcase before picking the leftmost. Theo was grinning from ear to ear when Tom ushered her onward. She got a clap on the shoulder and shook hands with some of the others who had already made it. _Lyz. Lyz has to make it._

"Elizabeth," Bugsy said, and this time it was Theo who cheered first. "My condolences to the rest of you. There will be the possibility for what we consider a retake of the practical exam, a last chance to prove us wrong with our current decision. Apart from that, you'll have to try again another time." Eight people had passed in the end, though not the eight that had qualified for the tournament.

"All of you with a pokedex in hand," Tom said, "follow me so that we can register your pokedex with your new trainer ID. That will also give you access to the pokemon storage system and cheaper lodgings at pokecenters and a discount at several partner stores."

In the end, Elain didn't remember much about the procedures that followed. The shiny pokedex was joined by an even shinier new ID, fresh off the press, and more rounds of congratulations and handshakes followed, this time by the gym staff. Bugsy had a few words for every of the graduates, as he now called them.

"Theo, Lyz and Elain," he said when he came to their small group, as if rolling their names around on his tongue. "I have a feeling we'll see some of you back for the bug badge before long."

"You can count on that," Lyz said, though Theo looked doubtful. The gym circuit had never been a priority for him.

"If any of you plan on setting out soon, make sure to stop by the Bug Pokemon Catching Competition north of Goldenrod City. I'm in the area whenever my schedule allows it, a very good event to bolster your roster early on." Elain had been to the catching competition once or twice, but as a visitor and spectator rather than a participant. Only a license and a considerate fee would allow her to enter that. _I have one of the two. Let's see how much money they actually want._ "Good luck on the road," he said before walking over to the next few people.

"One last evening at the tree?" Theo asked.

"No," Elain said, trying to keep her voice level. _I leave today. Give it another hour, maybe two, and I'm out of here._ "I'll be setting out today. Soon, actually." They said their farewells at that, as were some of the other kids, she noticed. _Not the only one who is eager to go._ Jason had already left the gym altogether, a brand new pokeball in hands. A last round of hugging later, she strode off the court, mindful of every step. _I'll be back._

 

* * *

 

 

Two hours turned out to be an impossible time for leaving after all. "You're going to call when you're in Goldenrod City, okay?" her mom said. "If nobody's home at the time, leave us a video message. Your father and I would like that."

_Not Ben, though._ Relief had washed over her when she had realized that her brother wasn't at home, quickly replaced by dread when her mother had said he was at the police station with her father. _Will need to stop by there as well, then._

"You fought well yesterday," her mom said, "many people have said so. The Azalean Print has asked for a bit of your time, an interview."

"I lost, mom." Kia was bounding up and down her bed, across the room and back again. Elain's mood of departure had infected the pokemon, and now that they were being held back, the energy had to go somewhere, she supposed. "They want an interview with me because I set half the gym on fire."

Her mother shrugged. "A bit of notoriety can't hurt. If Bugsy had a bit more bite, a bit more of a reputation, I'm sure I could needle another few thousand of ducats of funding for our budget. Having a name can help you in lots of ways."

_Setting it up would take at least a day, though._ "I-"

"Look," she said, holding up a hand, "I can see that you're in a hurry. Kia is, too, for that matter. Just call them today and ask them whether you can have a video interview once you're in Goldenrod City."

Elain was nodding, fidgeting around with her hands. "Will you call them for me?"

The look on her mother's face was answer enough. "You'll have to get over your hate for phone calls soon, especially when you're on the road. Get used to it. And no three hours of preparation for a two minute call either."

The phone call was as quick and painless as they always turned out in the end, but that wasn't the first time Elain had realized that. It simply didn't seem to help. Another round of hugging ensued, well wishes and a brief ruffling of her hair in memory of times long, long past in Elain's opinion left both her and her mother smiling, and Kia bounding towards the door.

"Make sure to stop by your father," her mom said. "He won't forgive you if you just disappear on him."

 

***

 

The police station was tall, a three-storey building, one of the largest in Azalea Town alongside the gym. The local shopping mall sprawled away on the opposite side of the street, and the revolving doors that led inside were in constant swing.

Two officers were lounging outside the station, one eye on the mall. "Elain," one of them said in greeting when she approached. With two relatives on the force, her family was well-known. "Come to say goodbye to old Harry?"

"Goodbye old Harry," she said smiling and walked straight past them both. It wouldn't do to get bogged down.

The door was already falling shut behind her when he called after her, "your father is in the first floor lounge." Nods and greetings followed her and Kia through the building and up the elevator, and more than one growlithe, rattata and pidgey forced them to a short halt while the pokemon sniffed and evaluated each other. "Your brother is out," one of the officers said. "Was supposed to be back by now, but you know how he is."

She smiled at the man. _I know how he really is, yeah. Do you?_ The hope that becoming a police officer would bring some change into his behaviour had been quickly crushed a few years ago, but she still didn't know whether police officer-Ben and brother-Ben acted the same way. _For all I know, he's a perfectly respectable person when not around me._ For the sake of Azalea Town, she clung to at least that much.

"Ah, Elain," her father said. He was surrounded by a small gang of people, fellow officers, and two people in plainclothes.

"We were just talking about the match," one of the others, Jayne, said. "Quite the show you delivered."

"Bugsy must have been glad," yet another of them said. "He doesn't usually get this much attention."

_I think he would've rather his gym had stayed alive._ "I still lost in my first round."

"But you got your pokedex, or so I've heard," her father said, inviting her to sit down next to him. "And your license."

What followed was a brief retelling of the fight from her perspective, since the court had mostly been shrouded from view by the smoke. There were quite a few almost-trainers among the officers, she knew. Her father was one of them, having gone as far as to get a license before pulling a sharp stop and signing up with the police instead. _Ben likes to forget that part when he preaches about dad's decisions._

"We're proud of you," he said after a short pause at the end.

_You? You and mom, or you and all your other friends here?_ The attention she was getting from everyone in the station seemed forced to her, something that was so utterly dependant on her father and her brother that it made her nauseous. _I should have waited for him to come home._ She answered some more questions, technical matters on how starting out as a trainer had changed from when they had tried it. Pokedexes hadn't been in circulation back then, she knew, and that was just the first of many conveniences she would be able to enjoy, they all assured her. Life had gotten easier.

The hug she gave her father felt awkward, and she only hoped it didn't look as clumsy as it felt in front of the audience. "You got everything you need?" he said, a bit of sadness creeping into his voice.

"Sure," she said, forcing herself to smile for him. "I'll send you a vid once I'm in Goldenrod City, promise."

That seemed to satisfy him well enough, and after another few moments of goodbyes she made it out of the lounge, out of the station, and out of Azalea Town.


	3. Chapter 3

It was late afternoon by the time Elain and Kia made it to the western edge of the town, the sun already well on its way to dip down behind the high trees. The houses in this part of the city were smaller and rarely tall, and the forest was constantly threatening to take yet another street into its possession. Here and there the inhabitants had given up their attempts to repel the encroaching green. Their houses stood abandoned to vines growing up their facades, and high grass and oversized bushes were planting themselves firmly on whatever patch of earth they could find. The ranger station, one of the few buildings where the forest was kept at bay with vigour, stood alone at the end of the road, enclosed by a stone wall. A wooden tower rose high from within the fortification, taller even than the surrounding trees.

"Into the forest?" one of the rangers, some Tom, asked at her approach. Two of them were standing together in their green uniforms with name tags sewn onto them. "It'd be better to wait for tomorrow, we'll send a patrol out to the next village. You could wait for them."

"Thanks," Elain said, "but I'll pass."

He gave her a scowl, but his colleague elbowed him. "That's one of the new trainers." He turned to her. "Got your license today, did you? You are the first out this route of your batch." _Then where did Jason go? He was out of the gym the moment they synced his pokedex._ "It's a tough choice, to be sure," he said. "Union Cave in the east, Ilex Forest to the west, not the most forgiving areas to start off with. Could always strike south towards the small jetty and catch a boat at the coast, but… well, you're well prepared by the looks of it."

Elain did feel a bit unbalanced under the load of gear she was carrying around. Her foldable tent was strapped to the right side of her backpack, her sleeping bag to the left. Her metapod was hanging in some straps below the backpack, and there was still the canteen on her hip and the flashlight attached to her shoulder strap. She was looking forward to the moment where she could drop all of it to the ground again already. "Any news I should hear before I head out?"

"There's been a few more beedrill hatchings than usual," Tom said. "You stocked up on antidotes?"

"Antidotes, burn paste, potions," she said, reciting the list she had gone over a hundred times back at home.

"Like I said,” the other one said, "she's prepared."

Tom looked at her a little while longer before nodding. "You take care out there."

 

***

 

Sun or night made little difference once you were inside the Ilex Forest proper. The trees grew so high, their canopy so thick, that even the brightest sun only managed to throw a gloom down on the forest floor. The noise of the town was quickly swallowed, replaced by wind brushing through leaves and the occasional distant scream of a pokemon.

"Well then, Kia... let's go."

Kia leaped ahead, excited by the prospect. There were plants to sniff and sometimes a trail to follow, though Elain quickly called her back to the path every time.

"I won't have you run off and leave me with only Trigger and metapod," she said, smiling, and throwing Kia a treat in apology. They had wandered the forest before, together with her parents while journeying north towards Goldenrod, and sometimes as a group with the other people from the gym. This was the first time she was on her own, and she had no plans to return to Azalea by the end of the day. Something twisted in her stomach at the thought and made her pause and look back, even though the trees already barred any chance of seeing Azalea from here. _Bye mom and dad._

They had been marching for a good hour by the time they came to the first crossroads of sorts. There were many paths into the Ilex Forest. Some of them didn't lead anywhere, others ended in forlorn villages or small lumber mills. Those were the smaller tracks, constantly overgrown and often blocked by fallen trees. The main road led from Azalea Town through the villages of Porter and Tomston alongside a pokecenter in the middle of the forest, before hitting another ranger station and then transitioning into Route 34. Even this so-called road, though, was in reality nothing more than a path created by constant travel trampling down the high grass. Whenever fewer people took the road, the grass would right itself slowly, until someone, usually the rangers, had to trample it all down again. This early on Elain was confident enough in her memory to go on without consulting either the map she carried around in the inner pocket of her vest or the digital version in her pokedex.

For all the worry the rangers constantly implanted on the population of Azalea about the dangers of rampaging pokemon, she saw surprisingly few in her first few hours. A flock of pidgeys had taken flight at some point, but even the sound of their wingbeats was a distant noise above the treetops. She had passed two metapods hanging down from some high tree branches, only because Kia had stopped beneath them and had looked up in silence. _How many more did we miss?_ A few minutes afterwards, she nearly stumbled over a weedle that had laid still in the grass. When the pokemon noticed, it angled its head slightly, bringing the poison stinger into place to defend itself.

Kia had jumped in front of Elain the same moment, ready to pounce. _Do I want to catch a weedle?_ Somehow she wasn't sure of it, reminded of the rather useless metapod dangling off the bottom of her backpack right now. "Kia-" she said, but the weedle chose that moment to simply skitter away into the grass, away, and not to be seen again. "That answers the question, I guess."

"What question?" someone said. Elain jumped at the voice. The grass rustled slightly to her left until John, one of Bugsy's research assistants, stepped through the parting stalks. He was wearing a green-stained lab coat with some pokeballs at his utility belt and a large basket slung over his shoulders. "I didn't realize you'd be leaving so quickly," he said, looking back and forth between Kia and herself.

"No reason to wait," she said after catching her breath. John had taught them the basics about pokemon evolutions, how to get the most information out of their pokedexes and some other, more academic topics. _Forgot to say goodbye to him, I guess. Yikes._

"Don't get lost then, and good luck. It's going to rain later, I'm afraid. At least according to two of our weather stations." _A brilliant start._ "Well..." he said, looking at the pokeballs at her belt, "you're a licensed trainer now, so I would offer you a fight but let's be honest, it's getting dark, even darker, I mean, and I for one have no desire to be here after sunset." He kneeled down to ruffle Kia’s fur. "And we don't want to give you any cause to set the forest on fire now, do we?"

_He already heard?_ She suppressed her groan at the news. "I want to get some more ground covered today anyway. I'll be back to Azalea at some point, so I'll take you up on that fight then."

She pressed on in a hurry, forcing her legs to take step after step. The weight of her equipment was wearing her down, and the high grass made for tiring walking at best. Sometimes she cut herself on some thorns she hadn't seen in the midst of all the weed, or brushed against some nettles that had somehow managed to grow with as little light as the trees allowed the undergrowth. The rain John had warned her about started falling the same time the sun was setting somewhere in the west, hidden by the forest. At first, neither the fading sunlight nor the rain was making any difference on her situation. The light didn't change a lot, and the leaves held off the rain entirely. Only a few hours later did she start stumbling more often than not, losing her footing over a root she hadn't seen and constantly afraid of slipping on the wet grass. Even with the flashlight, her steps were too unsteady to carry on.

"Kia, give us some wisps."

Purple pellets of fire were forming around Kia, three, then four, circling around a little, hovering up and down. With the additional light, Elain made to set up the tent, trampling a small patch of grass even further into the ground. She had made a point of learning how to set up a tent quickly and efficiently, but the rain and the ache in her joints and muscles was making the job slower than usual. Kia kept close to her, sitting on her haunches while her flames were guiding, and occasionally heating up, Elain's hands.

Some dull feeling of disappointment was settling on her when she finally crawled inside the tent. "I should have caught that weedle. Or maybe not?"

Kia just stared at her before walking over her legs to settle in her lap.

_I don't really have a plan what pokemon I want in my team yet. If I had wanted to catch it, I would've known, I guess_. _I didn't even look it up in the pokedex. But what new things is the pokedex going to tell me about a weedle anyway?_ She had grown up next to the Ilex Forest, in a town where the local gym leader was known to be an institution on the field of bugs. The metapod was already one more bug pokemon than she wanted to have.

Outside, the rain was patting against the canvas of her tent. The wind had picked up in strength, too, and the rustling of leaves had grown from an easily forgotten background noise to an almost violent reminder of what was going on. _Storm, some rain, all the same, isn't it, John?_  Kia was fast asleep as always, the warmth of her body seeping through the sleeping bag. Metapod was back in her pokeball, as was Trigger. _I should let him fly tomorrow. If the weather gets any better, that is._  

Compared with Kia’s ability to apparently fall asleep anywhere, Elain kept shifting around, closing her eyes for a few seconds just to turn to the other side again in annoyance. Both rain and wind were still tearing at each other, but she had never had any problems falling asleep during a storm. _Having a roof and walls around you rather than a flimsy tent canvas probably makes a difference there..._ She grabbed the pokedex and opened it, searching for weedle. _Bug pokemon, uses its poisonous stinger on its head or the barbed stinger at its tail to defend itself. Weight, cry, locations... nothing new or useful._

Outside, some new noise caught her attention. Something was shuffling around, bending grass and... huffing... of sorts, panting. "Kia," Elain said, "up." It took a bit of shaking to get Kia awake, and her eyes were heavy with sleep. "On three," she said, making ready to zip open the tent.

"One... two... three!"

Kia jumped out, a growling in her throat. A high squeak was the only answer, and when Elain followed her pokemon outside, the rain patting down on her, it took her a few moments to spot the source of the noise.

An oddish was huddled down in the grass in front of her. Right next to the grass pokemon, a fresh spot of brown earth was already half-filled with water. _It rested there during the day, just a meter from my tent._ The oddish squeaked again, louder than before, and faint blue lines began appearing in the air around it, one by one, until the night was illuminated by them.

"Kia, dash!" The quick attack hit oddish square on while it was still preparing its absorb. It tumbled backwards, the grass stalks on its head mixing with the weed surrounding them. "Again, before it gets back up!" Elain said while readying a pokeball. She was surprised to see it in her hands. She couldn't remember deciding to catch the oddish. _Enough of a sign, I suppose._ Kia dashed in another time, throwing her opponent slightly into the air. _Don't let it catch its breath._

There had been lessons devoted to the dangers of adventuring, and the Ilex Forest, so close to home, had often served as an example. Losing a fight against a wild pokemon was always dangerous, but there were worst case scenarios that would leave a trainer helpless against the enemy as well as any enemy that would follow, even if the first one was somehow driven away. Oddish, being able to poison with acid, paralyze and sleep with various powders and spores, had made top of the list in their lessons.

Throwing a pokeball, though, had also been part of their training. It hit the oddish right when it was getting back on its feet, and the red energy stream quickly gathered it up inside the ball. A brief struggle followed where the pokeball rolled over the grass, left and right, even going as far as to jump up into the air once, but then the red light on the release button died away, and the ball lay still.

Elain was panting, her hands clenched into fists, and even Kia stood stiff, the fur on her back slightly ruffled. Rain was dropping on top of them, and by now her clothes were drenched. "Well done," she said, bending down to give vulpix some scratches on her way to fetch the pokeball. For a few moments she stood still in the rain, rolling the miniaturized pokeball around between her fingers. "I think we earned ourselves some rest now, don't you think?"

Kia, in response, trotted back into the protection of the tent.

 

* * * 

 

The weather had cleared a little by next morning, as far as Elain could tell. The occasional raindrop still splashed down from the leaves above, and what little she could see of the clouds seemed just as dark as the afternoon before. _I'll take what time I can get to dry._ Kia’s presence helped with that, just lying next to her had already worked wonders on the clothes she had been too tired to change after last night's capture.

The oddish was still in her ball, and Elain had decided to keep her in there for a little while longer. _I need some safe spot to hunker down and read up on their eating habits. If I got that down, it'll get a lot easier to convince it to listen to me._ She had never had problems with obedience from her pokemon, but that was no reason not to take precautions. _If I release it and it immediately uses spores on me in the middle of the forest, I'm done for._

She released Trigger instead. "Go fly some," she said, "and stretch your wings." There was limited possibility to do so, she realized when Trigger only made it to the lower branches. Everything above that was a tangled mess, easy to get caught up in. The longer Elain looked up, the more spider webs she also noticed. _Not a safe place to fly._

They passed one of the wayfarer shrines, a robust block of seasoned wood. A small space was left in the middle of it, like a wooden cave, where people could leave useful items for fellow travellers in need. Today, she saw a single spray of antidote, two bottles of clear water and a handful of berries. _I could use the antidote, I guess but... I still haven't even touched my own supply._ On the other hand, leaving any of her own limited equipment behind seemed like a stupid idea as well. Likewise, she saw little reason to waste her time with a prayer to the forest guardian as was custom for the villagers within the Ilex Forest.

Trigger, in the meantime, was definitely enjoying his time out of the pokeball, dipping low into the grass just to woosh up before diving down again. Elain was glad to see it stay away from the upper branches of the trees. Kia, while so energetic the day before, now seemed unimpressed by that level of activity and simply fell in step next to Elain.

Last night's rain had softened up the ground and had left the grass wet and clammy. Somehow, she was already looking forward to lay down next to Kia again. _Oddish... Oddish..._ Her memory left her mostly blank when the plant pokemon was concerned. She knew it was a mix of plant and poison, had a total of three evolutions and that the pokemon's second stage drew a lot of mockery for always drooling. _And that's the extent of it, pretty much._ She flipped open the pokedex and searched for oddish’ entry, but before she found it, Trigger came darting back to her, not slowing his flight at all. Elain fumbled for the pokeball, nearly dropped it, and only managed to activate it the last moment before they would've crashed into each other.

"What," she said, "was that?" Kia at her feet, though, had stopped a few meters behind her, snout raised into the air. Her ears were wagging, too, and after another second of listening Elain heard it too. Buzzing. It grew louder by the second, drowning out the sounds of wind and every other pokemon that might have made a noise anywhere nearby. "Into your pokeball," Elain said, quickly withdrawing Kia into the same safety Trigger had already sought. _I caught him here. He knows the sound. Cover. I need some cover._ All around her, trees were growing tall, throwing roots wherever they could. That wouldn't do. The grass, too, while high, was offered no decent protection. They would see her from above. _The shrine!_ She turned on her heels and ran, her equipment bobbing up and down alongside the metapod she had slung underneath the backpack again.

The buzzing grew even louder behind her, filling her ears and thoughts. She slipped on a slick patch of trampled grass and felt some weight lift from her back. A quick reach with her hand assured her that metapod was still with her, and then she was up again, sprinting, her legs screaming. The shrine was around the next bend in the path. It was standing up in four wooden legs, and the space between the ground and the bottom of the shrine was welcome shelter. She almost slid beneath it, not daring to slow down too much. Right when she curled herself up to prevent any arm or leg showing from above, the buzzing became an unbearable, deafening staccato of a thousand wingbeats. The beedrill swarm was above her, above the treetops.

"If you hurt a weedle," Bugsy had said, "or a kakuna without either catching it, or knocking it out for a good while, then the beedrills will come after you sooner or later. Remember that." He had walked around the group, staring at them with a face as serious as he rarely put on. "They are territorial and will hunt you if you get too close to their colonies." The lesson had dragged on, almost a whole day devoted to beedrills and ways to get away from them. Cowering under a wayfarer shrine had not been part of the lecture.

The swarm passed over her head in less than a minute. Many there were, but they flew quickly over the short distances, for whatever purpose they had set out. _It can't be because of the weedle I met yesterday, right? I didn't do anything to it, I didn't attack, nothing._

Her knee was bleeding a little and covered in scratches from her fall, and Elain bound it up with a small piece of bandage. _I guess a little prayer is in order this time around._ She spoke some thanks to the guardian of the forest, or the guardian of all the forests, whichever it was, and then hurried on despite her own assurances that she had nothing to do with whatever had stirred up the swarm. Kia was next to her again, out of her pokeball, and she even found the canteen she had dropped during her fall earlier. Trigger, however helpful he had been in warning her, stayed put for the moment.

True to her plans, she reached Porter some time around noon that day. It was one of the bigger villages in the area, thriving on providing Azalea with game and the more seasoned wood from deeper inside the forest. Even if Azalea Town was small by most standards, though, it still dwarfed Porter. Less than a thousand people lived in simple wooden homes scattered across a valley that wound its way to the north-east, and most houses were hidden by the trees growing between buildings. A dirt path led down between the hills rising both in the north and south, dotted with rills from the previous rains. With the ground dropping in front of her, it was also the first opportunity she had to see the sky without any leaves in the way, but she didn't like the look of it. The clouds hung low in a dark grey and looked ripe for another downpour any time. _I can't stay here for too long, though. Just passing through. They'll have a well, no need for anything else._

She passed a couple of people working small fields, but she didn't recognize what they were growing. Farm work had never interested her enough.

"You a ranger?" a man said when she walked down the path, a shovel resting on his shoulder. He was sweating through his shirt and peering at her and Vulpix with a squinted eyes. "One of Bugsy's people, maybe?"

"A trainer," she said, tasting the words on her tongue. She was about to reach for her license before she realised that the man had no business seeing it.

"Trainer," he said, looking past her now and up the path she had come from. "We heard the beedrills flying earlier. Lucky you didn't get caught up in whatever that was. Bill has a store in the centre of town, can't miss it if you just walk straight on. There's also a town hall where you can rest a little, if that's what you're after."

"Thanks," she said, but the man had already shifted his attention back to the holes he was digging. The rest of the town was equally indifferent to her presence. _Travelers aren't that often, but I guess still often enough._

Calling it a town hall had been very generous of the man, as it turned out. Two tables with simple benches took up what space there was, and even with this little furniture the room was crammed. A door led to some more rooms, but Elain couldn't tell what lay beyond on a glance.

"It's the mayor's rooms," someone said from behind her. Two boys were standing in the doorway, a slowpoke in their midst. "You a trainer? Do you want a match?"

"I'm Elain," she said, "and this is Kia. Who are you three?"

"Bertel," he said, pointing at himself with his thumb. "That's slowpoke and Ingol."

_He can't be a licensed trainer yet._ There was something familiar about the boy's face, but she couldn't pin a name to it. If he was of this village and taking lessons at the Azalea Gym, then she wouldn't know in any case. "Which year are you at?"

"I'm already half a year into it."

"Why do you want to fight?"

"For practice, of course!" he said, putting some exasperation into his voice.

_The next pokecenter is a day away into either direction. If something goes wrong here..._ Bertel was still looking at her, then her Kia. "No match," she said. "I still have too much path left to travel and-"

"But-"

"-and you need to know when to pick your fights. The middle of the Ilex Forest isn't the place." She withdrew metapod into her pokeball before slumping down on one of the benches to make her point. The boy was about to protest further until she pulled out her pokedex. _Oddish... Oddish... likes paste made out of blue and green berries, either or a mix is fine... plants itself into the ground at daytime, night-active, well I noticed that..._ She didn't have any berries on her, and the food she was carrying was the packaged sort that most pokemon would eat, but rarely actually like. _I have some treats, but it doesn't say which sort they like._ "How is it," she said "going to the gym for classes every time through the forest?"

Bertel kept staring at the pokedex, reading along from next to her. "It's a pain. Sometimes I miss a class because the weather is too bad to travel, or some pokemon swarm is being annoying again. Bugsy lets me stay at the gym overnight, usually."

"You go back with one of his assistants?"

He nodded. "Or with the ranger patrols."

_That has to suck. Scraping the money together for a license program can't be easy in a village like this either._ "Good luck, Bertel. Next time when I come through here, you'll get your fight."

She had meant it as an encouragement, but the boy didn't seem taken in by what he guessed was an empty promise. He hmph'ed at her and stalked out, followed by his friend and, after a few seconds of lazy silence, his slowpoke. "We'll wait with releasing Oddish," Elain said, looking at Kia. It was time for another round of scratching anyway. "There's a pokecenter about a day away. That'll be a better environment. Just in case it wants to poison you. Or me."

They might have a store at the pokecenter, some place where she could get food her oddish would like, and maybe the nurses would even know what sort of treats they preferred. It wouldn't hurt to check out the village store before heading out, though. Outside, the rainclouds had decided to paint the sky black.

The store consisted of a single room cramped with as many shelves as one could reasonably fit into it, and then some. Voices rang out of a backroom, but the woman at the counter didn't pay them any mind, instead focusing on Elain from the second she walked in. She was a lean woman with a gaunt, almost haunting face. "A new face, a new face," she said in what was probably supposed to be a melodic sing-song voice but ended up as a grating, high-pitched squeal not unlike what oddish had produced the night before. "Not one to stay, I don't think," she said when she saw Kia. "And not an entirely new one either... you're the young Ashcroft girl, aren't you? It's been a while since your father ushered you through here, a year? Maybe two. I guess you are too old to be the family's young girl anymore, but never mind that, what can I do for you?"

_She remembers me? Not really, I guess, but still. Weird._ Even after all that, the shopkeeper, and she hadn't even mentioned her name, didn't seem in need for breath. "You have berries? Blue or green? Or some paste of them?"

In the following minutes, the shopkeeper proved why it was better to let her handle the searching. There was little organization in how the items were ordered. A couple of ordinary pokeballs were lying next to a bunch of fruits, one spilling into the basket of the other. Next to that, some old magazines, and then a few maps were all thrown together. From out of nowhere, the woman pulled two glasses of pickled berry paste. "Green," she said, holding up the left one, "and blue." To Elain, both were of an indistinct brown tone, but she held her tongue.

"I'll take both."

With two new jars in her backpack and a decent plan on how to ensure that her newest team addition wouldn't kill her on the spot, Elain left the shop and strolled out of the village. The first raindrop hit her the moment she stepped into the high grass.


	4. Chapter 4

~

“I don’t know why I took her along. I really shouldn’t have, John was right about that. Would never admit it to his face, of course, but hell… I think she just reminded me of my own girls." -Ranger-Captain Ana in an interview for the Azalean Friday News, ten years after meeting Elain for the first time.

~

 

The rain hadn't stopped by the time she was trying to set up her tent, and it didn't seem to be deterring the zubats, either. Every few minutes, one of them would swoop down at her and Kia to get a bite, even with Kia's wisps lighting Elain's work on the tent. _I can't just have Kia shoot blindly into the forest. Even with the rain..._

One zubat even tried to go for metapod and tore at it for a moment, but its hard shell kept off the damage. In turn, Kia managed to direct one of its wisps against the attacker, and it flew away, shrieking and with a burnt wing.

"Damn it!" Elain said when she slipped again, dropping the tent pole. It was a small model, barely larger than her sleeping bag if both were folded up, but that didn't mean putting it up in a downpour and in relative darkness was easy. The ground was wet, soaked with what rain it hadn't managed to absorb of the past few days yet, together with the new water coming down ever since noon. Every step sucked her boots a little into the earth with a squelching sound, and every step took a little more effort. _I'm getting tired. Too tired._

"We'll look for a new spot," she said to Kia. _Maybe she'd be happier in her pokeball._ She knew Kia had a sort of fire inside her to keep her warm, but this weather couldn't be good for a fire pokemon.

Kia bound ahead, though, with three of her wisps spreading out into all directions to cover a little ground. It wasn't the best sort of light, Elain had to admit. Will o' wisps came in a few variations in terms of colour, but they were mostly dark purple, and their light dipped the forest into more shadows than she cared to acknowledge.

 _It's getting worse._ Another zubat launched an attack but was batted away by a wisp before it could come closer. Kia had found her rhythm to take care of the bats. At the same time, the ground beneath their feet was more mud and slog than grass. The stalks, usually reaching high up into the air, were hanging low, bent down by the weight of the water that had gathered on them.

Elain was considering backtracking and trying a different route when she heard the stream for the first time. _At least we're still on the right path. The Ilex is supposed to cross the path at some point around here._ There would be a small bridge, she remembered, a wooden thing barely wide enough for two people to walk abreast.

In her memory, the Ilex was a small river that snaked its way through the forest, meeting up with several other streams somewhere west of Azalea before flowing together into the sea in the south. With the rain of the last few days, the Ilex had swollen to the edge of its bank, surging almost up to the large stone slabs that hemmed it in in this part of the forest. _The bridge is still standing, though._ At least she thought so. Neither Kia's wisps nor her own flashlight reached to the far side of the wooden construction.  _Cross now or tomorrow?_ The riverbank offered decent spots for setting up her tent, but there was no way of telling whether the same was true of the opposite side. _The bridge might not be standing anymore tomorrow._

"We'll cross," she said to Kia, "and you'll go back to your pokeball for now." _No need to risk both of us. Though I don't actually know what happens to a pokemon if their pokeball drowns._ Metapod, too, was withdrawn and deposited inside the safety of her pokeball. "Well then..."

Without the wisps, her vision had shrunk to barely a meter of ground directly in front of her feet. _Maybe it's better that way._ She couldn't see the water splashing around the bridge poles or the stones within the river, and she couldn't see its dirty brown colouring that spoke of all the earth it was carrying downstream. Instead, her world was reduced to a single wooden plank after another, and the almost deafening rush of water tearing at the bridge. Some of the planks looked almost new, only a few months old, brighter than the others. Most were old, gnarled wood.

She reached the other side with a breath of relief, releasing Kia immediately again. Gravel defined the riverbank on this side, and an overgrown bench stood forlorn to her left, overlooking the bridge and the Ilex. The ground was no less wet, but at least not as soft. The tent went up quickly enough. _Now, if only the river doesn't flood..._

Elain ignored the small stones she could feel through tent and sleeping bag, she ignored the drumming of the rain on the tent canvas and the river rushing on a few meters next to her. She fell asleep with Kia curled up against her chest, warmth spreading through her soaked clothes and damp bones.

 

***

 

She hurried through her breakfast, laying out some food for Kia and Trigger in the meantime, and then stepped outside. Rain was still falling, dripping slowly and in single drops, rather than the constant downpour of the last night. Her canteen needed refilling. With a stream this close, there was no need to use any of the bottled water she kept in reserve in her backpack.

The bridge, as it turned out, was still standing, but in the morning gloom Elain got a look at the water for the first time. She was kneeling at the edge of the river on one of the stones, the canteen in hand. Dark brown, with branches and patches of earth and grass floating downstream, the water suddenly didn't look appealing anymore.

She stayed there for a minute or two, just watching the flotsam pass her, and listening to the morning sounds of the forest. Some pidgeys were out and about despite the rain, but she supposed they couldn't take a break just because they didn't like the weather. _Neither can I._

Right when she was getting up again, a magikarp stuck its head out of the water, keeping itself in place against the current. It was looking at her with large, dull eyes, flopping wildly. _What the hell is-_ It spit some water at her face before the stream carried it away. Elain fell back on her backside with a shriek. Kia rushed out of the tent, and even Trigger hopped towards the edge to see what was going on, but the magikarp was long gone.

Another one appeared, flying through the air for a second, trashing and wringing itself around, before dropping back into the river. More followed, two, three, then another five. _Some lake upriver must have overflown._ There weren't many lakes big enough for so many magikarps to be swept away from, but there was no other explanation she could think of, save for a trainer releasing a dozen of them into the wild at once.

"Let's break camp," Elain said, wiping her face clean.

 

***

 

They were marching through the deepest part of the Ilex Forest that day. Sunlight didn't even begin to reach the ground, and still the weed was sprouting shoulder-high at times. _At least the rain can't get through as easily either._ The weather seemed to keep away most pokemon as well. Nothing attacked them throughout the morning, even though she spotted a few spinarak webs as they went. The path of trampled grass was almost gone by now, and she had to stop to consult her maps, both the one on her pokedex and the paper maps she had brought with her. By noon, finally, she glimpsed the red roof of a pokecenter through the leaves.

There were two buildings, the pokecenter itself and its small wings, and a normal inn for other travellers. Close up, what had looked like red was now more of a dirt-red to brown. The roof's shingles had weathered too many storms to stay bright.

"Welcome," the nurse behind the counter said. "I'm Nurse Joy. Does any of your pokemon need medical attention?"

"No," Elain said quickly, "no. I'd just like-" _a room for the night,_ she almost said, but caught herself. _There's no reason to spend the night here. It'd be comfortable, yes, but I'd lose half a day. I can be out of the forest in another one and a half days if I keep going like this, and then it'll take another day at most to get to Seahorn. It's not that far._ Nurse Joy was still looking at her with a smile. "I just need some safe space to release a newly caught oddish for the first time. And please take a look whether Kia hasn't caught a cold or anything like that."

"You won't be staying for the night?"

 _Maybe I should._ "No. But do you know what sort of treats an oddish would like?"

The following discussion took up the better part of an hour, and covered everything from oddish eating habits to mating procedures and evolution cycles. The result for now, though, was rather simple. None of the treats Elain had on her would be any good, and the pokecenter wasn't selling any either.

Still, Nurse Joy directed her towards the pokecenter's common hall and gave her a few plates to prepare the pickled berries on. "I'll take a look at your Kia in the meantime," she said while pressing a full-face gas mask into Elain's hands.

 _Gloves, mask, a long-sleeved jacket... I should be fine._ She split the content of one jar across the three plates she had available and spread those out around the room. After a deep breath, Elain hit the release button, aiming directly next to one of the plates.

Oddish materialized out of the red energy beam, the long leaves on its head wobbling. They looked at each other. _Take the food. Take the-_

The pokemon charged straight at her. Elain stumbled out of the way, struggling to see through the mask's visor. _This wasn't what I expected._ Oddish, after missing Elain, started shaking its head back and forth, and its leaves swung furiously in turn. Purple powder filled the air, more of it with every shake of Oddish' head.

 _I'll be fine. But that's another set of clothes that need proper washing before I can wear them again._ Oddish was slowing down, and settled for staring at Elain. _Judging the attack's effect? Come on, just take the food._ Under normal circumstances, Elain didn't think she'd go through the effort of actually taming a newly caught pokemon. Oddish, though, with its powders and spores, seemed to warrant some precautions.

 _Come on._ Something was shifting in the back of her mind. _Come on, why don't you want to eat?_ Something she was supposed to pay attention to, but wasn't. _I caught you right before you could get food for the night, you should be hungry again._ In front of her, Oddish finally settled down and nudged one of the plates with her body. The pokemon started eating right when Elain noticed that she was scratching herself. That she was scratching the underside of her left arm. _What the-_  

She cursed into the mask. _The jacket must have come loose back when it tried to tackle me_. Her skin, even what little of it had been exposed to the poison in the air, was already covered in goose-bumps and itched from hand to elbow. Breathing became harder, though some part of her mind was trying to convince her that that was just the mask, not some poison. Oddish was still eating when Elain's legs gave out, and she fell to the ground.

 

***

 

It was dark around her when Elain came to again, though she quickly felt the reassuring heat of Kia sleeping next to her. _A hospital bed. The pokecenter?_ There was a pounding in the back of her head for every movement she made, but she shuffled around regardless. Kia yawned at the disruption to her sleep, but quickly began to sniff at Elain's arm. Someone had wrapped a thick, wet bandage around it. _Nurse Joy, I guess._ She hadn't seen anyone else working in the pokecenter so far.

"This didn't go as expected," she said, scratching Kia' head and rueing the pain in her own. The arm, at least, felt fine, apart from a slight tingle. A door opened, and Elain winced at the flood of light that burst from the hallway into the room.

"You slept a bit longer than I had expected," Nurse Joy said, "but that's nothing to worry about. Everyone reacts a bit differently." The words sounded too fast and garbled to Elain, as if Joy was playing her a recording sped up once. The nurse smiled. "You'll be fine," she said, once, twice, a bit slower, mouthing the letters. She set down a small tray of food and turned around again, flipping the bedlamp on on her way out.

Elain sighed when the hallway light died away again. The smaller lamp only threw the room into shadows, but the dim orange was a lot more welcome than the bright yellow. "I guess I'm supposed to eat," she said. "Did you get fed, Kia?" The disinterest the fox showed towards Elain's food convinced her that the pokemon had indeed gotten her share already.

The food was nothing but a thin soup, but Elain was glad for it. With the way she sometimes missed her mouth with the spoon, she didn't trust herself to keep anything else down anyway. "What happened to the oddish?" she asked, but Kia didn't even raise her head. It had gone back to sleep already, its head nuzzled against the bandages, weighing down Elain's arm.

 _I think oddish was eating just before I fell unconscious. If so, maybe that changed its mind?_ Next time, she decided, she would have Kia at her side when releasing the grass pokemon. _It'll think twice about making any trouble of that sort again, then._

She reached for her pokedex with her free arm and flipped it open. Her movements were getting more accurate again, already steadier than before her meal.

 _The SYT is going to take place in about two months. Even if it's all rookies, I'll need a stronger team. More pokemon._ She glanced at the two pokeballs on her bedrest. _Trigger and metapod aren't quite the pokemon I'd choose for a competition..._

Kia protested with an angry purr when Elain twisted around to get to her backpack. Paper and ballpens were inside, and she would have need of both. Taking notes on paper had always come easier to her than writing them into her phone, or now her pokedex. _What pokemon do I want?_ The first one on the list was easy. _Skarmory._ She had never managed to explain her fascination with the steel bird, but it was a solid pick in her opinion. The difficulty would be to find one. _Even having the opportunity to find one is going to be tricky._ The pokedex agreed with her earlier research. Skarmorys mostly lived in the untamed eastern parts of Johto, somewhere south of Bork City. _The Dark Cave would bring me there as a shortcut, but the mountain itself is dangerous... and Route 45..._

She sighed. "I will need to build a team just for the purpose of surviving out there..."

Two months were a lot of time, though. _Maybe just enough for this._ A route was forming in her mind, and the pokedex was providing the pokemon she would be able to catch on the way. _Two months, and I'll be in Saffron City._

 

***

 

 

"Good morning," Nurse Joy said. "Or noon, I guess. You shouldn't stay up as long when you're sick."

"I didn't feel sick," she said, rubbing her eyes. "What happened yesterday?"

"Oddish’ acid caught the sleeve of your jacket, burnt through and got on your arm." Elain winced. "It was a small dose and the antidote was administered within minutes, so the effect was miniscule. I gave you a small dose of anaesthetic on top, just to make sure your body would have some time to recover."

This time, Elain could follow the torrent of words. "What happened to oddish? And how is Kia?"

"Kia is fine, it takes a lot more for a fire pokemon to get a cold. Oddish..."

 

***

 

Oddish was still in the common hall, as it turned out, and most likely asleep at this time of the day.

"Hey oddish," Elain said. A shiver went down her spine at the sight of the long green leaves wobbling around. Yesterday, she had worn a lot of protection gear and had still gotten sick. Today, she was in normal traveling gear again. _Kia is here, though. And it did eat all the berry paste._ Oddish came slowly to its feet, clearly still more asleep than awake. "Do you want more food like you had last night?"

The grass pokemon bristled when it woke up properly, and went into what looked like a fighting stance. The two sides stared each other down. Then the moment passed, and oddish slumped again, looking at Elain, waiting for the red laser.

"We've lost enough time over this," Elain said, and turned to leave with a smile on her face.

 

***

 

It rained into the early night, just as it had the days before. The treetops caught most of the initial brunt, though, so the water only trickled down, filtered by the thick canopy overhead. Metapod was under her backpack again, and a new oddish ready in her pokeball at her belt. _I'll need a team to build a team,_ she had realized last night. _No weedles, though. No more caterpies._ There was one pokemon left in the Ilex Forest she knew she wanted. One that had plagued her that night before stumbling over the pokecenter.

The first zubat dived against her a few minutes after nightfall, or what she figured had been nightfall. The eternal gloom of the Ilex Forest made it hard to tell, sometimes, especially when rain clouds were hanging overhead. "Go, Trigger!"

A brief chase followed, but zubat turned out the better flier, able to dip upwards into the lower branches of the trees. Trigger tried to follow, but caught some twigs in his wing once, and ended up charging headlong into a spinarak web the next time. Kia’s wisps were needed to burn the net away.

Trigger was dismissed again. _I need to find some use for him at some point._ He had lost against Dizzy, though to little fault of his own. Lys had trained that pokemon into a fighting machine, even more so than machops usually were. _It's the trees. There's no space to fly here._

Even with these excuses, the short debacle had made it clear that Trigger would be of no help. "Kia," she said, "get it done." So far, Kia had used her wisps to keep the zubats at bay if she noticed them soon enough. Moving them close to the bats was usually enough to discourage them from trying again; the purple flames burnt hot enough to ensure caution. "Bring one down."

Another zubat flew into the circle of the flames, wary of the wisps and keeping its distance. When the first one rushed closer to it, the pokemon rushed away. _Again._ There was no particular reason she wanted to catch a zubat, of all pokemon. But while she wouldn't have another bug on her team, she did need to fill up to six at the very least.

Two more zubats took the hint too early and escaped, and Elain was itching to call it a day and set up camp. Even with all the rest she had gotten in the pokecenter, the last few days had put a strain on her she had never experienced before. _I can rest later._ Gritting her teeth against the encroaching sleep, she continued to put one foot in front of the other, trampling through the high grass.

At last, a zubat shrieked when the wisp came close enough to it. One of its wing shone in bright purple for a second, illuminated by Kia’s attack, and the heat was enough for it to tumble down to the ground. There was no struggle when Elain threw the pokeball.

"Finally," she said, unclenching her jaw. "Number five." For a moment she considered just sleeping in her bedroll for the night, but the earth was damp, the grass wet, and the rain still a constant trickle through the leaves. A few stomps assured her that the ground was in a good enough shape for her tent. Under Kia' drooping eyes, she made camp.

 

***

 

For once, the weather had cleared, both rain and clouds gone, and the gloom of her first afternoon in the forest had returned. It almost looked peaceful, tranquil, if not for the buzzing of the nearby beedrills that kept growing and softening with time. Once she spotted a spearow flock making its way east, but they were flying above the treetops, and the leaves had concealed them from each other. Just their frantic wingbeats had carried down to the forest floor.

Some time after noon, she came upon another wayfarer shrine. Nothing was on offer in its wooden cabinet, and she considered parting with one of her spare water bottles or with an antidote kit. _Two days left in this forest, give or take._ A lot of things could go wrong in a matter of two days, though, so she held on to both.

The day kept advancing, and Elain kept going to ground at any sign of beedrills, kept pressing on whenever the path seemed clear. The shrubbery and grass wasn't growing as tall in this part of the forest, only reaching up to her belly, and she was thankful for it. She almost felt like she was making up for lost time, but when she checked the pokedex in the evening, she slumped her shoulders together. "We were slow again," she said. "We could march through the night. Without rain that should be-" Kia had sat down on her haunches and gave one long, stretched-out yawn. Elain laughed, shaking off some of the fatigue that would inadvertently return as soon they marched on. "You're right Kia. We can use the rest."

 

***

 

Hills were rising on the next day, throwing up ridgelines and tiny valleys with even tinier streams dabbling along. The treetops had grown thicker again, and with the water below, the air was humid and stale in between. _Tomston should be close._ Elain slapped a mosquito that had settled on her neck. _And the end of the forest after that._

She had camped close to the village, as she realized later when she hit a dirt street, only a hill or two away. Fewer people were living in Tomston, but you wouldn't know it going by the throng of people that was blocking the street at the moment. "Bring them back," some of them shouted, a chant taken up by the people as Elain came closer.

"Silence!" a woman yelled from inside the masses. "Everyone calm down."

The crowd was still pushing, shoving; the chants were growing louder. The red light of a pokeball activation appeared, and all at once the people stumbled backwards, their protests dying in their throats.

Tyranitar stood a few heads taller than any human on the street, glowering down at them. "Good," the woman said, and with the people pressing backwards, Elain and Kia managed to slip through their ranks and towards the center of the commotion. Two rangers, flanked by a volteon and the tyranitar, were enjoying their new-won space. "Very good," the female ranger said. "We will find your lost people. It's our job." She was stressing every word, talking loudly so that everyone would hear. When no one answered her, she went on, "where did they go?"

"They... they took the track east," a man said, "the usual route.”

The female ranger stalked off, volteon next to her, the other ranger and his tyranitar following a step behind. The fight and argument had gone out of the people. Elain saw some of them mutter or stare after the two, but most dispersed quickly enough. For a short moment the crowd was surging against her, carrying her away from the rangers, until she had elbowed her way through and was free of the people. _Why am I following them._ She dismissed the thought, walking, then jogging after them, Kia quick behind her.

The female ranger turned around after a few more steps. "What do you want?" Her eyes fell on Kia.

The other ranger glanced over her once before walking on. "Here for a learning opportunity, I reckon. This can be dangerous work, kid. Go home."

"I'm a licensed trainer," Elain said.

"We're rangers," the woman said, but she was looking back and forth between Kia and Elain. "If you want a training opportunity, you can come with."

"She'll slow us down," the other ranger said.

"You slow me down every day, and yet I still take you with me. Besides, these people have been lost in the forest for four days. They're already dead." She turned to Elain. "You okay with this? Looking for corpses? Because if not, you better turn around and go your way."

 _Why am I doing this._ "I'll come with."

"I'm Ana," the woman said. "That's John. Who are you?"

 

***

 

The Ilex Forest grew oppressive over the next two hours. The trees seemed taller here, the grass stalks thicker, and the buzzing and chirping of bug pokemon was all around them. The gloom had grown darker, the leaves overhead more cramped together, vying for some space in the sun, leaving little light for the forest floor. "You okay back there?" Ana asked.

Elain swallowed. "Surprised. I didn't think the forest was this different when you got deeper in."

"The main routes of travel have developed over time," she said, "following the parts of the forest with lighter growth. It shifts every few decades when the forest moves and grows. There are maps back at the ranger station with dirt streets and gravel paths that existed ten years ago, and nothing is left of them now."

Tyranitar was trampling ahead in front of them, pushing ferns and bushes down with every step. For the first time outside a village, the forest was easy and almost smooth to walk. "How do you even know where to go?"

"Because of this," John said, pointing ahead. Two tents stood abandoned around an old and cold camp fire. "Tomston sells mushrooms and other delicacies of the Ilex Forest north to Seahorn and Goldenrod. This is one of their... let's call it base camps, for the lack of a better word."

"Ely," Ana said to her volteon, "find me some tracks." Kia followed the pokemon closely, sniffing at everything the volteon was sniffing head, keeping its head low to the ground.

Ana was smiling. "Does it actually have any experience with tracking?"

"No," Elain said, "but she looks eager to learn." Tyranitar was slumped down next to them, gulping down some chunks of indeterminate brown food paste John was throwing him. "How do you have enough food for him with you when out on patrol?" She already struggled with imagining taking enough treats and food for the five pokemon she had right now, and all of those were small and easy enough to please.

"He doesn't," Ana said, throwing a glance at John. "Tyranitar is with us if we need his presence, otherwise it's in the pokeball. It needs a lot less food if it's not walking around."

"Yes, yes," John said, "I'll withdraw him in a bit." Tyranitar looked up at that, grumbling softly. "Of course I'll finish feeding you." Another chunk of food vanished down the pokemon's throat.

Ely gave a bark then, and Kia was quick to follow with a yowl.  Ana was with the two the next moment, kneeling down a few meters away from the camp. "Not much," she said, "and leading further east."

"Doesn't make a lot of sense," John said. "They have plenty of gathering spots in safer parts of the forest."

"Must have been a valuable new spot, then." They were following Kia who was following Ely, for the better part of another hour afterwards, through bushes and over roots, creeks and ridgelines. Now and then the volteon would freeze on the spot, stay still and look ahead into the forest, his ears twitching, and Kia would do her best to imitate him. Then the path led on, up to a riverbank. Following the scent over to the other side would've proved a challenge, if not for the small burrow in the ground, a miniaturized cave entrance that led into the hill rising behind the water.

"That bodes well," John sad, but Ana shushed him.

"Dismiss Grumbler."

The tyranitar disappeared in red energy, and for a moment Elain felt lost without it. Even the deepest part of the Ilex Forest had felt safe with a giant like that on your side. Kia must have thought the same, for she came trotting back to Elain's side rather than standing at the front next to Ely. "It's okay," Elain whispered, scratching her ear.

"The tracks only lead in," Ana said slowly. "So whatever killed them is in there as well."

"Or they are in there," John said, "alive and well, having run away from home because of some bullshit argument they had, a point they're trying to make or... or whatever."

"John," Ana said. "Shut up."

"Shutting up."

Ely and Ana took the first few steps at the same time, both of them slightly hunched over. "Torches crammed into nooks in the rock," she said, running her hand over the jagged stone surface of the wall close to the entrance. "They were planning to stay a while."

"Kia," Elain said, "light the way."

The volteon shied away from the bright purple will o' wisp at first, but when the flame kept hovering as far above its head as possible, the pokemon relaxed a little. The tunnel opened up quickly into the cave proper, a small cavern about ten meters to each side. In the middle, three men lay on their stomach.

"Face masks," Ana said before any of them took another step inside. Both rangers had theirs donned quickly enough, and one was handed out to Elain. "Look at the walls," Ana said.

Mushrooms were sprouting all along the stone, right up to the ceiling. Their caps were dark brown with spots of white, and even the smallest of the caps was wider than Elain's outstretched palm.

"A paras cave?" John said, staring.

"Definitely. Just not the usual mushroom to go along with it." She rolled over one of the gatherers. Blue clumps had formed under his skin at the base of the throat, almost bursting. "Dead for days. We'd need an autopsy to see what poison did it."

"Tell me we're not doing this," John said, his outrage muffled by the mask. "We're not going to carry a corpse all the way back to the ranger station."

"No," Ana said with a distracted voice. She had taken out her knife and was cutting out one of the clumps, tearing the flesh open. "No we don't have a proper body bag, and I won't risk carrying any of the spores outside any more than we have to. We'll bring samples though."

Elain couldn't stop watching the ranger cut open the man's throat. _Corpses. Dead people._ Her body was yanking at her to run out of the cave, to get to safety. Instead, she did a slow step forward. "Is this- is this some new mushroom? Why do you need samples?"

"A mutation," Ana said, flicking open small plastic container. "Every once in a while, the parasite on top of a paras won't quite produce the mushrooms it's supposed to. The normal ones are bad enough, but this..." John was cutting one of the mushrooms open, his hands unsteady. Several curses echoed through the cave before he was done.

Kia was keeping close to Elain, pressing her body against Elain's leg. She was glad for the warmth of it. "What do we do with the corpses?"

Ana sighed, beckoning the others to follow her outside. "The same we do with the mushrooms. Burn them. Burn everything."

She had never ordered Kia to use her flames on humans before, and the command got stuck in her throat. _They're dead. They're no longer alive, and there's nothing else we can do for them._ "Kia..." she said when they were back at the water. The first spread of embers lit up the cavern entrance, scorching their way down. _The flames aren't hot enough for this._ "Send in the wisps."

The group watched in silence, humans and pokemon alike, as the three wisps floated up and down the tunnel, into the cave and out again. After the third time, thick, black smoke was following the wisps, almost obscuring them. By the fourth run, they couldn't see anything through the smoke anymore, only the purple colouring whenever the wisps returned. Elain gagged and stumbled backwards, tearing off her mask and heaving into the running water. The smell of cooked flesh, however dead, was mixed into the foul stink of the poison mushrooms.

Kia was next to her, muzzling against her arm, and Ana kneeled on the other side, holding back her hair. "First time seeing a corpse?"

Elain nodded. "First time smelling one, too."

John was still standing in front of the entrance, staring into the smoke. "What about our clothes?"

"We can't carry any spores of this into the village," Ana said, looking at Elain. "You got any spare clothes?"

"No jacket," she said in between heavy breaths. "Had to burn the other one because of an oddish."

"We'll get you a new jacket," Ana said, her voice soft. "We'll have a spare at the ranger station."

 

***

 

They hurried on their way back, making even more haste than before. The grass hadn't yet recovered from the tyranitar ploughing through it, so the going was easy even without the giant in front of them. A group of villagers quickly gathered around them on their return, asking about the missing people and the smoke. Voices rose once before Ana's snapped through the crowd. There were no bones to return, not even ashes. The villagers would keep away from the area. They parted, muttering much like they had earlier that day, and then the rangers were on their way again, dragging Elain along with them. She wasn't really awake for most of it. They passed another wayfarer shrine where the rangers took a short break. Elain ate what was handed to her. She didn't realize when the forest floor traded places with a well maintained road, or when the treeline broke away to either side of them. Sleep reached her faster than the feeling of the featherbed she was lying on.


	5. Chapter 5

~

"Elain and Kia, huh? Yeah, I remember that girl. Actually read the article about her in the Goldenrod News last week. I gave in back then, when she was in Seahorn for the first time, you know? I gave in and took her with me on a harder job than she was probably ready for. If I'd told her no back then, then maybe... I don't know. Maybe things would turned out differently. If somebody, just once, would have told her no." Senior Ranger Thomas in his only comment regarding Elain to an unknown journalist. Date unknown.

~

 

Elain woke to the commotion of people moving gear around, emptying their lockers and parts of their trunks. She was in a sort of barracks with several rows of bunk beds and storage for the rangers. "What's going on?" she asked, her voice slow to her ears. Kia was already walking around the foot of the bed.

"Moving out in two hours," a woman said in passing, not even giving Elain a second glance. "Big expedition into the forest."

It dawned on Elain that she was no longer _in_ the forest. The trip had taken its fair share of detours and had eaten up almost a week of her time. _It's a big forest after all._ "Where's Ana?" she asked the same ranger. "Is she around?"

"Should be in her office." Then the woman was gone, a backpack larger than Elain's slung over her shoulder.

She got up slowly, expecting the same sort of headaches she had felt after the oddish poisoning, but nothing happened. Her muscles ached all over, though, her entire body protesting her getting up. _It's just exhaustion. Maybe I can rest a little here._ The smell of lunch drifted through the barracks, but Elain forced her grumbling stomach to wait and asked her way towards the office, Kia close behind.

"Glad you woke up before we leave," Ana said, holding up a hand to stall any questions. "We're leaving in force to find the responsible paras group. At least a couple of their parasites are the root of the problem, and we'll have to deal with it." The office was small, almost completely taken up by the desk and the file cabinets that stood to either side, but a nice, big window was set into one of the walls, giving them a view on the Ilex Forest. _No rest here, then._ The ranger looked at her a while, her fingers idle on the computer keyboard. Then she pushed herself up from the desk and took a ranger jacket from the clothing stand next to the window. "Told you we'd get you a new one."

"But that's-"

"A ranger jacket, yeah. Good material. Very sturdy. Try not to get poison spores or acid or whatever on it for a while, you won't get that sort of quality in your run of the mill store. Hope it fits."

It did fit, and Elain felt up the fabric of both the out- and inside for a while. "Thanks. A lot." Silence followed when she

 couldn't help herself and explore the multitude of pockets the new jacket offered, and Ana seemed content to just watch her for a while, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I have two daughters your age, back in Kanto," she said. "They got their license in the last wave as well." Elain didn't know what to say to that, but Ana wasn't expecting her to. "One of them has a vlog," the ranger said. "You should check it out if you have the time in Goldenrod. Leave her a comment. Tell her... tell her you met her mom, if you would."

"Sure. Of course." Names and website went into the contacts on her pokedex. "Anything else?"

Ana shook her head and settled down behind her desk again, her fingers hovering over the keys. "Get yourself some food. The canteen isn't as bad as you'd expect. I'll lead most of the rangers out in about an hour. You can stay here for longer if you-"

"No," Elain said quickly. _I won't stay if they're all leaving._ "I should get going. Seahorn isn't too far now." She left the office, and the last glimpse she got was Ana staring at a picture on her desk, one hand resting on the frame. Elain couldn't see what was on it, but she was pretty sure she knew anyway.

 

***

 

She left while the rangers were still in busy getting ready, having snatched a quick meal in the canteen before setting out. Metapod was hanging below her backpack again, giving her luggage a familiar weight. She smiled at the fresh air, sucking in deep and greedy breaths. The ceiling of leaves in the Ilex Forest had turned the air more stale than she had realized at the time.

Kia was always two steps ahead, sprinting up a ridge to see down the other side. So far, the terrain was still dominated by the offshoots of the forest behind them, with trees packed tightly to either side of the gravel road. _There is a road though._ The small stones were crunching under her feet. "Kia," she said, and the fox sat down, waiting for Elain to catch up. "We'll need to do some training."

"Don't train them in the forest," Bugsy had said during one of their lessons. "The place is dangerous enough as is. You can't risk training injury, getting unnecessarily exhausted or being too distracted by your training to notice the beedrill swarm honing in on you."

She had followed that advice, but now it was time to play catch-up. "You look out for wild pokemon while we do this, okay?" She was itching to let Kia fire some flames, to train her burst and spiral attacks, but there was no way to test them while in the middle of a forest. The flames would catch, spread, and burn down the everything around her, especially with the rangers occupied down south. Trigger made an appearance instead. "Practice some dive attacks," she said, and watched him fly up. For a moment, he was simply stretching his wings, gliding a few meters before frantically beating his wings to get some height again.

"Go!" Elain shouted. He dropped, wings close to his body. "Fury Attack!" The pokemon caught himself meters above the ground and immediately went over to slashing with claws and beak after an unseen opponent. _This isn't strong enough._ Lys' Dizzy had simply stood and received the attack, shielding himself with his arms. "Repeat!"

They walked on like that, Trigger flying overhead, diving and slashing before struggling up into the air again. Now and then the spearow would get distracted with something, some pokemon scream far in the distance or a bug pokemon hanging in the trees. Once, he almost didn’t catch himself quickly enough while diving, throwing up dust and some pebbles. Elain let him repeat the whole pattern a couple more times before calling it off, and Trigger landed on her outstretched arm, waiting for his reward. She held him the small box with worms and insects with her free hand, and waited until he had picked something out with his beak, the worm still squirming. _Gets distracted easily. Not particularly strong on the offence, and basically nothing on the defence apart from being able to fly._ She watched him tear into the treats for a moment, the weight growing heavy on her arm. “What do to with you?” she said.

Both pokemon and food box were stowed away again, one in his pokeball, the other in her backpack. For a moment she considered releasing oddish and trying to see whether it actually obeyed her now. _I'll do it in the evening. It likes night time better than the day anyway. Just in case, though..._ She stepped off the road. _I think those are blue... or are they?_ Some of the bushes on the right side of the path had grown berries, green ones on closer inspection. She wrapped some of them for later and stuffed them into one of her new jacket's pockets. _I'll have to get some food in a village on the way. I won't make it to Goldenrod with what I have._ Another set of berries had grown deeper in the forest, and she already made out two more bushes filled with them. _I can stretch the meals with berries, if I have to._ They varied in size and colour, some the size of strawberries, other the size of her fist. Most of them went into the spare containers she was carrying around. _Maybe I need to get some berry box. Goldenrod should have something like that._

Before she could pluck yet another bush clean, the undergrowth rustled to her left. Some grasses were swaying back and forth. "Kia," she said, but her pokemon was already next to her. Some high-pitched squeaking announced the three rattatas seconds before they ran into view, not even stopping when Kia put herself square into their way. "Confuse the leader!" Kia' eyes were glowing deep purple, and a few seconds later so were the lead rattata's. It kept charging at first, but then its gait became unsure. It staggered headlong into the rat to its left, and both fell down entangled.

By then, the third was already too close to break off its attack, though it still slowed down. Kia, using the swing in momentum, dashed in and finished it off. The other two pokemon, one of them still confused, weren't getting up. "Well done," Elain said, patting her head. _Three rattata._ For a second her hands hovered next to the pouch where she kept her spare pokeballs. _I don't think I want to add a rattata to my team. Would just be another mouth to feed._ She gathered up the berries she had come for and left the pokemon to their own.

 

***

 

Camping outside was a lot easier and more comfortable now that Elain had left the Ilex Forest. The undergrowth was still thick as soon as one left the road, but at least there was no shoulder-high grass that needed trampling with every step. Only after she was assured that the tent stood erect did she turn around back to the road. "Three wisps, and make them bright," she said while releasing oddish. The pokemon was wobbling around a little, the leaves on top of her head rustling with every step. _Four. Five. Six._ Elain waited, and waited, but oddish was occupied with staring at the wisps and even started following one of them around at a respectful distance.

"Oddish," she said, and the plant pokemon turned around. She took a cautious step towards Elain but at least kept the acid to herself. "Do you want food?" The wisps still floated around them, attracting a number of smaller bugs who fizzled dead towards the ground upon misjudging the blue flame's heat. Oddish took another step, if a small one, and Elain took it as a sign to lay out some more of the berry paste. Compared to her first attempt, the next couple of minutes stretched into an uneventful staring contest of both herself and Kia, both of them not letting oddish out of their sights for even a second.

In the end, oddish had cleared the plate and almost fell backwards a little, staring at Elain. _Well then._ "Oddish, use some acid on the tree over there," she said, her arm outstretched and pointing at a nearby birch. Oddish got up again, walking a bit gingerly with her belly full, but sprayed a thin jet of deep purple against the tree trunk nevertheless. The wood began hissing, steamed a little at the edges of the impact, before parts of the trunk dissolved. The purple ate deep into the tree, though not quite enough to topple it.

 _If she had hit her attack against me better in the pokecenter, that would've been me._ It was best not to think about it, she decided, though the dead tree and the biting stink of the acid brought back memories from the corpses in the forest. _Yeah,_ she thought while she covered her mouth with the back of her hand. _Best not think about that._ Still, her legs grew a bit weaker while watching the acid work, and somehow the burnt bodies and the dissolving tree intermingled in her mind until she managed to turn away. "That's enough for now," she said and recalled oddish. _Time to get busy._ She had no desire to go to sleep in her current mindset, so she produced the pokedex from her pocket and went through the attack list. _Spores. Powders. Lots of area denial opportunities._ Her pokedex, connected to the assortment of pokeballs at her belt, automatically updated what sort of base attacks her Oddish was able to do. _Maybe she can release some spores that are flammable, and Kia can set them aflame. Not the sort of attack for an every-day fight though._

"We'll have to do something about oddish," Elain said, looking at Kia. "Feeding her on berries or berry paste for a few days will be okay, but she'll need sunlight in the long run. Maybe we can get something that'll suit her in Seahorn." Kia yelped in response and nudged the fifth of the miniaturized pokeballs. "Right, we got one more to let out tonight."

She wasn't especially concerned about zubat. The pokemon sported a nasty pair of teeth and could do some damage with its supersonic, but Kia had beaten him once, and Kia would beat him again if necessary. At the moment, Elain was more concerned for zubat rather than for herself.

Zubat, once released, was badly disoriented. The bats were territorial and wouldn't leave their own hunting grounds very often on their own accord, and now he found himself more than a day away in a foreign part of the forest. Two of the wisps, not helping in the least, were floating close to him, hovering just far away enough to be a threat rather than an attack.

As with oddish, Elain had prepared some food. Zubats and would take the same sort of treat like a Kia would, she had read, and Kia threw the snacks a quick glance before concentrating on zubat again. "Food?" Elain asked, nudging the plate she had prepared with her foot.

Faced with the choice of attempting an escape against the same purple balls of fire which had brought him down the first time, and a plate of snacks, he chose the latter. _Two new pokemon, then._ Route 34 was one of the quieter tracks for trainers, a stark contrast to the dangers of the Ilex Forest. Elain doubted that either zubat or oddish would see any fighting until she could maybe catch some other new trainers in Goldenrod. "Now, let's see that wing," she said, grabbing zubat before he could fly off again. He squeaked a little while Elain brushed over his leathery skin, the colour almost black with the night as advanced where usually it would be dark blue and purple. Her thumb brushed over the left wing joint, and Zubat squealed a bit louder for it. "Nothing bad, nothing bad," she said in a low voice. "Just a little burn." Her burn paste made an appearance, one of the many tubes she was carrying with her.

When Bugsy had revealed Kia to be her partner more than three years ago, Elain had cheered and swept the pokemon up in her arms before the gym leader had even finished his congratulations. She could still remember how she had hoped for a mareep, the fluffy electric sheep, or maybe a krabby. A vulpix had never entered her mind, and yet when the time came, Elain had embraced her new partner without a second thought.

As always, familiarity had given rise to carelessness. Their own house had nearly burnt to the foundations, saved only by one of Azalea's firefighters living in the same street and his poliwhirl having been quick to curtail the worst of the flames.

Elain applied the salve with gentle strokes. Zubat calmed quickly; the paste spread a cooling sensation across the afflicted skin almost immediately, as she could tell from personal experience. Kia, in the meantime, watched the proceedings, her head cocked slightly to the side. Curiosity gleamed in her eyes, but whenever Elain had treated a pokemon for burns, when she had beaten out some ill-placed flame Kia had given life to, her pokemon had never shown remorse or pity.

 _She can create fire from thin air. She can control the wisps._ Zubat started flying somewhat grateful circles around Elain's head before the red beam transported him inside his pokeball. _She is bound to have a different connection to fire._ Elain made for her tent, and Kia was quick to snuggle up against her. The air felt warmer outside the forest for some reason, and the pokemon's heat now forced her to shed more of her clothes or risking to wake in a thick sweat.

"You wouldn't let me burn, would you?" Elain asked. Kia shuffled away from her chest until the pokemon could look at her, and then licked across her face. "I'll take that as a no," she said, giggling between the words.

 

* * *

 

 

"We shouldn't risk it," Elain said, staring at the road sign. "Or should we?" To the right, the path would take them to the Onix Tunnels, a series of caves excavated by the resident rock pokemon, an elaborate maze that went deep enough to swallow an unwary traveller whole. "We could use an onix." Kia was staring into the bushes, her eyes following some butterfly which was flying from one plant to the next. _Can we even win against an onix, though? And keep one fed?_ None of her pokemon came to mind when searching for a likely candidate to take the field against an onix, most of them wouldn't even stand a chance. "West it is, then."

Trigger, circling overhead, adjusted his course and dived low, more out of joy than for training purposes. They had spent the morning trying to work out an attack pattern that would allow him to dive and get back out as quickly as possible; Elain was determined that the episode against Lyz' machop should not be repeated a second time. _Fly, and fly some more. It won't hurt you, in any case._

A good hour after deciding on her path, the road up ahead showed signs of life. For the first time since leaving the ranger station Elain actually saw people moving about, two rangers on a motorcycle, one of them in the sidecar, driving in front of an old pick-up truck. The two vehicles were going slowly already, but slowed further when they approached Elain, and, on a hand sign from the driving ranger, came to a halt next to her. "You from the Tunnels, or the Forest?" she asked, staring at Elain's ranger jacket.

"Forest," Elain said. "From Azalea," she added a second later.

"New trainer," the ranger in the sidecar said, twisting his neck to look past his colleague. "Any trouble on the road?" The images of the Ilex Forest came back to her, of the dead man in the cave and the smell of his charred corpse. The thick, black smoke that had risen out of the cave had joined her throughout her dreams. "You don't look so well," he said after Elain had taken too long to answer.

"There was... there was trouble in the forest," she said, and the faces of the two rangers hardened, their back stiffening on their seats. She swallowed. _You can't leave them hanging like this. They'll want to know more._ "Some bad paras spores," she said, and continued to outline the problem and the departure of the rangers at the station.

"Well," the driver said, "guess we'll be too late for that operation. Thanks for the intel." The engine roared back to life; the high revving sound stood in stark contrast to the laid-back speed the motorcycle was driving at a moment later.

Elain watched the pick-up truck go past her. A shuckle had planted itself on the rooftop, and three people sat crammed into the driver's cabin below it, another two had found themselves places on the truck bed. They had loaded sacks and barrels, probably filled with things they were hard-pressed to cultivate themselves in the middle of the forest. One of the barrels had left a biting stink in its wake, fish, she realized after walking a couple of meters into the fading scent. She was still caught up in trying to cover her nose when light fell into her face all of a sudden, blinding her and forcing her to take a step back. The forest had withdrawn from one step to the next, without transition. To either side of her, the long-reaching offshoots of the Ilex Forests had fallen to saws, their thick roots ripped out by pickaxes and shovels. Further in the distance, beyond the immediate devastation of such a brutal clearcutting, stretched the golden farmlands.

The sight took her breath away. The absence of trees was a foreign concept for her, there was almost no point in the whole of Azalea where you couldn't see them at least somewhere, usually growing up some mountainside in the north or north-east. On the western border of the city, where the Ilex Forest loomed, the people had rather abandoned their streets, given them up to the forest, rather than taking measures as drastic as this eradication. _I've been here before, years ago, but... I don't remember any of this._ The farmers had wrestled the land from the forest only recently, but the process was an old one, one repeated every decade or so, she realized now. _Maybe I didn't notice back then._

Something else was happening, trying to get her attention, but Elain was still staring, gaping at the open, flat landscape which rolled away without so much as a hill anywhere in sight. A solitary tree had defied and survived next to a small pond at the edge of the nearest patch of farmland, or maybe someone had planted it later on. By now Kia was yapping, jumping left and right, looking at her- looking at the backpack. Light was pooling out from it, from underneath it, and Elain, drawing in a breath to suppress the curse, hurried to take it off.

Metapod was glowing in a brilliant gold, further emphasized by the sun finally shining on them all without leaves and branches to keep it off. The glow grew brighter still, and metapod grew so hot in her hands that she put her down on the ground. Elain used the opportunity offered by two free hands and shielded her eyes, leaving only a small gap to peer through.

There was nothing to see of metapod, though, just the light, growing a notch more intense right before it finally died down. A few pieces of her shell lay on the ground, but in the middle of it a butterfree, with a dark purple body and large, red eyes, lay with its wings furled up.

"Hey there," Elain said, feeling rather lame about it. The evolution from caterpie to metapod had been the first she had ever witnessed within her own team, but she didn't remember it having been the same way, with the same sort of light to it.

Butterfree looked up at her, shook her head slightly once and then unfurled her wings, thin and half translucent, and took off towards the next tree. She was chipping away a little bit of tree bark, bits and pieces of it falling down to the forest floor.

"Well," Elain said, walking a little closer, "better take your fill of sap now, because there won't be as many trees where we're going, the way it looks like." For a moment she considered stopping here and reading up on butterfree in the pokedex, to work out what she’d need to pay attention to in the future and just to get accustomed to having her. _Need to press on. I’ll spend more time with the newcomers once I’ve hit Goldenrod. That should be a safe place to train them and work out if they fit into the team._

 

***

 

The harbour village of Seahorn had a rich history and a good explanation for its name, Elain remembered from some distant tour she had taken ten or so years ago, though she wouldn't have been able to recite any of it if asked. What mattered to her was that two of the stores ringing the town square offered almost all the snacks and proper food supplies she needed for both herself and her pokemon, though she was still at a loss with oddish. _It needs sunlight, and a place to spread its roots over the day._ Now that metapod- now that butterfree was safely inside her pokeball, Elain felt that she could add a bit more weight to her luggage again. "Do you have some flowerpot," she asked the local florist. "Needs to be a bit bigger than normal, I guess."

The man looked at her for a second, then at Kia and finally her backpack. "What sort of flower do you have that needs potting?" As a form of reply, Elain released oddish in front of her feet. Florist and plant pokemon were staring at each other until oddish yawned and vanished back into her ball. "Well," the man said, "I don't know if I can help you with that. Maybe ask one of the rangers what's best for an oddish, but I won't sell you a pot without knowing any more about this."

 _What kind of different pots can there even be. Just give me one that's big enough._ She smiled and turned on the spot. The local ranger office was well-signposted, just down the main road running from the north towards the centre of town and then there bending west towards the sea.

The rest of the market was filled with stalls, rows of them. Farmers were yelling their lungs out, more often than not in order to insult one of the others who were trying to sell, rather than to advertise their own wares. Here and there, villagers from the Ilex Forest had claimed spots for themselves, displaying a range of gathered specialities. Elain hurried past the mushrooms; the memory of the paras cave was still too fresh in her mind, and slowed down again for a stall dealing with Ilex wood. Simple planks and logs framed the display of elaborate wood carvings, some of them depicting the forest guardian, others some of the more tame-looking bug pokemon of the area.

 _I could get something small as a sort of souvenir from home._ The villagers of the forest usually lounged quietly behind their wares, secure in the uniqueness of their goods in a way the local farmers weren't, but now that she had stared at some of the figurines for long enough, a man was moving out of the shadows of his stall. Before he could speak up, Elain had made up her mind and trotted off, west towards the sea.

 

***

 

"An oddish, eh?" the ranger said. He was young, not much older than Elain, she guessed, and his red hair almost fell over his eyes. He pushed it away with the back of his hand while looking at the plant pokemon in front of him. "It needs to take root over the day, that much is true. Not easy to keep one healthy."

Seahorn's ranger station was hidden away from sight, accessible by taking a narrow sidestreet away from the main road. The building itself was tall rather than wide, with three or four stories, a sort of watchtower in the middle of the city. "The local florist doesn't want to sell me a pot to put her in unless he knows more about it."

"That so? Well, I wouldn't trust the man with this anyway. There are special pots for pokemon to take root in, something about the coating, and you'll have to keep it maintained as well. Like I said, not an easy thing." Elain shrugged. _Not going to release her into the wild again just because of that._ The ranger sighed. "If you insist on keeping her, then keep her fed on berry paste until you hit Goldenrod. There's a florist there who will be able to help you out."

In the corner of the room, next to some water bowls, the ranger's pikachu and Kia were sniffing at each other before turning their attention to the water. "You have any jobs I could do?" she asked.

The ranger laughed. "You bet. Thomas has been slacking for the last two weeks, knowing that we'll get a wave of new trainers soon. There are lots of things to do around here, mostly getting paperwork sorted, and some of the handwritten reports we do in shorthand on the road need to get into the system." He looked at the clock on the wall. "Tell you what, you can take one of the cots on the first floor, then spend tomorrow on desk stuff, and you'll get the usual cut to your Trainer Fund. You're lucky. As early as you are, you'll get the easy jobs."

 _Another day lost._ "And if I take a harder job for the evening?"

He looked at her for a second, at the bulge of equipment on her back and the five miniaturized pokeballs at her belt. "In that case I'd refer you to the senior ranger and let him decide. Might be he'll just tell you to come back to me and do the desk jobs after all, though."

"I'll take the chance," she said with a smile on her face. She whistled Kia to her side, got the directions where to find the other ranger, and was off again.

 

***

 

Seahorn's quay wall ran almost half a kilometre into either direction, bending a little at times to accommodate the shifting shorelines. Piers jutted out into the sea, a lot of them, some even with heavy cranes and other machinery. The entire structure had been built in a time when the mines out in the eastern mountains, past the Onix Tunnels, had still yielded the ore to justify heavy shipping. Nowadays, the harbour lay in disrepair, and the small fishing boats that still docked looked ill at ease among the oversized installations.

Thomas, Seahorn's senior ranger, leaned against the metal railing, water slapping against the solid rock wall beneath him in a violent rhythm. His face was weather-beaten; the wind had etched deep lines into his skin. He was looking out at the sea, talking to himself. "Two more to the left. Yes. That's it. Drop the buoy there," he said, and Elain saw the radio he was talking into only after walking right up to him. He didn't notice at first, still fixed on the water. A motorboat was cutting through the waves and made for one of the piers. "Getting a signal, all is well," he said before glancing to the side at Kia and her. "The wave is getting here early this year, it seems."

She looked at the sea, trying to gauge just how out of place the swell might be. "You expecting a storm?"

He laughed. "I meant the wave of new trainers from Azalea, but no. A bit of rain maybe, but maybe it'll pass us. What do you want, then? I made sure to leave lots of good work for you lot with Cory back at the station."

"I'm already behind my schedule after the Ilex Forest, so... I thought I could get a harder job than paperwork? Get a good rate on an evening's worth of proper work instead of a day behind a desk?"

Thomas had turned his attention back to the motorboat again. A younger man climbed out, almost slipped when setting foot on the pier, and then righted himself again. He spoke to someone else in the boat- to someone in the water. A chumchou was swimming next to the pier until it vanished into his pokeball. "The Ilex Forest will do that to you, throwing you off-schedule. How many pokemon do you have you can rely on for combat?"

 _Kia. Trigger, I guess. I haven't gotten around training butterfree's new abilities yet, and oddish is still... questionable. Zubat? Maybe, but-_ He was expecting an answer, and with what had happened in the Ilex Forest in mind, Elain thought it wiser not to make an empty assessment. "Two," she said, trying not to wince when he glanced at her five pokeballs.

"Well at least you're not overestimating yourself." He turned away from her and waved the man from the boat closer. "Good work, kid. We'll see whether we can track the corals with this during bad weather. I'll leave you to it for now, gotta handle this." Without further ceremony, Thomas turned to leave, and Elain, after a moment of confusion mirrored on the other man's face, she fell in behind the ranger.

 

***

 

"There is too much empty space here," he said half an hour later. They were rummaging through the southern outskirts of the city where warehouses stood abandoned, providing storage for companies that had pulled out of the harbour decades ago. Some of the buildings were in better shape than others, but they were all run-down with wooden doors rotting and windows missing some of their glass panels. The air stood still and stank the part, stale as it was, but it was a worse feeling than even in the forest. Whereas the woods had still infused the air with the scents of flowers and earth and nature in general, every breath in the warehouses felt like tasting sharp-stinging decay and sickness waiting to happen. "Too much empty space," he said again while he let his flashlight illuminate some of the cleared out storage areas in front of them. "Things sometimes like to make this their home. Smaller pokemon, bigger rodents, whatever can get a hold of this place."

Elain followed in silence, and Kia was doing her best to sneak along. _Could be straight out of one of the bad horror movies Lyz always made me watch with her._ For a brief moment she was back in Lyz' room, the two of them huddled together with Kia sprawled out across their laps and a bad movie occupying the TV. Dizzy had shown little interest in movie evenings and had usually sat them out either in his pokeball or in the small training room breaking the family's equipment again. The memories faded quickly, replaced by a bleak and dark reality. The flashlight had gone out.

"Stupid thing," Thomas said, shaking it. The gesture lured a little more light out of it, but only for a second, then darkness returned once more. "Do you have-" The purple wisps rose into the air, throwing shadows around. Thomas recoiled a little, then stared, then fumbled with his spare batteries. "Thanks."

 _Where is his pokemon?_ She hadn't even realized that he didn't have one out. Kia led the way from now on, one wisp in front of them, on floating from left to right, and the other covering their rear. They descended deeper into the maze of warehouses and storage garages, at one point startling a small band of rattata, but Thomas waved them on.

"Not our target," he said.

"What is the target?"

They stopped in between two high walls. The waves of the sea still rose from somewhere to their right, but distance had turned the crash of the waves into a gentle, almost relaxing background noise. Light was getting scarce; the sun was setting. "People close to the warehouses have been complaining," he said. "They've had an uneasy sleep, as of late." He glanced at her, maybe waiting to see whether Elain would understand on her own. After a short while he added, "Drowzees."

 _Psychics._ She shuddered, trying to keep her hands calm, and ended up pressing them against the sides of her jacket. Lyz had caught an abra on this very Route a year or so ago during one of their longer, supervised field trips, but she had rarely trained it, and Elain had been thankful for it. Neither of them had ever managed to make their peace with the psychic type. "How many?"

"No clue. The reports started trickling in a week ago, but I don't know for how long this has been going on. People didn't think much of it at first. Then they talked to others about it, realized it was a widespread thing, and finally they told us down at the station."

Kia was sniffing at the frame of a closed door, but trotted back to Elain's side after a moment. "So, a guess?"

"One. Maybe two or three," he said, looking around. "We'll split up. Take the ones to our right, I'll take the left, and then we'll meet up again here." There was a moment of confusion when Elain looked around, still searching for Thomas' pokemon, right until the ranger released one from a pokeball. A stink wrapped itself like a blanket around her head, the scent more concentrated and stinging than the stale air all around them. Elain turned away, too late, and Kia gave a surprised yelp and bolted towards the open door of the warehouse next to them. Thomas had called a muk, its slime gradually shifting, flowing towards the ground in lazy, slow waves. The ranger was grinning, though even his face had taken a strained look. "Not a good pokemon to keep around," he said. The two of them vanished into the next warehouse, but the stink lingered, and Elain followed Kia as quickly as she could.

The three wisps floated around them, illuminating the interior a little, but darkness still had a firm hold on most of the building. Elain turned on the small flashlight she had clipped into the front of the jacket. "Let's do this slowly," she said, recoiling from the volume of her own voice contrasted against the silence and darkness of her surroundings. Step for step she made her way deeper into the interior, past empty shelves reaching up to the ceiling and, at one point, a stack of open crates. The locks had been forced open, melted until the deformation of the metal had rendered them useless, and then discarded to get to the contents. A quick glance over the lid of one of them assured her that nothing was lurking inside.

Kia walked ahead of her, a step or two, sometimes ranging farther out but always waiting as soon as she couldn't cover both of them with the wisps anymore. _Another pokemon? Who do I call to fight a drowzee?_ Trigger wouldn't have the space to manoeuvre in an area as enclosed as the warehouse, and the same was true for butterfree, though her hovering would help at least a little. _If only I'd had a little more time to get accustomed to butterfree._ According to the pokedex, the bug pokemon spread a fine layer of poison powder with every beat of her delicate wings, though Elain hadn't noticed any of it in the few moments butterfree had actually flown around. _Another thing to check up on. Maybe it gets more toxic the older or stronger it gets? Or-_

Kia growled, a sound much lower than Elain was used to hearing from her companion, and strangely uncharacteristic for the fox pokemon. One of the wisps darted past Elain's head, forward, into one of the aisles between the shelves. Lit up, the space turned out empty save for some more crates, though these showed none of the force applied on their locks as she had seen before.

What had tasted like stale, dirty air a few minutes before had turned into the sweet relief of taking a deep breath once they had reached the door on the far side, though even here, a block or so away from the ranger's muk, its stink left a foul aftertaste on Elain's tongue. Another warehouse awaited her, though she walked along the outer wall first, peering around the corners. It was the last building before a high fence separated the area from more farmland to the south. Barely visible in the gloom of the encroaching night, the forest rose far in the distance, black trees looming high.

"One more to go," she said, pushing open the only door they had found. Kia followed on her heels and squeezed past her in between Elain's legs to take the lead again. There were no shelves in this building. Instead, a single, long corridor running into the darkness ahead with metal grids separating off storage areas to either side. Most of the respective owners had cleared their areas out at some point while others were filled with half-rotten wooden crates of varying sizes.

Kia sent a wisp to either side of them. The purple fires easily burnt their way through the grids and then threw the criss-cross pattern of the metal bars into the corridor, but somehow the light only served to create more shadows, more distractions.

"To the left!" Thomas shouted, his voice dampened by the walls between them. A series of crashes followed, obscenely loud against the backdrop of the silent warehouses, and then more yelling.

"Let's-" Elain was saying but stopped herself. Something had moved in the corner of her eyes. "Kia!"

The quick barrage of fire turned the metal bars orange-hot and set the cardboard behind it aflame in an instant. A drowzee jumped out of its cover with an inhuman squeal echoing through the warehouse; the noise was both foreign and familiar at once. For a moment she saw the face of the rotting man in the cave again, a fleeting image of the creek she and the rangers had withdrawn to, and then the drowzee's squeal piercing the silence of the forest when Kia sent her wisps against the mushrooms.

The fire's crackling tore her back into reality. The drowzee had thrown itself against the door, one of those with a missing lock, and charged straight towards Kia with its sides still smouldering and smoking. _No psychic attacks. Then-_ Without slowing down and faster than she would've thought possible, drowzee threw itself on top of Kia, but the fox was faster and got out of the way in time. Drowzee landed on the floor, producing a dull _thump_ , but picked itself up with the same speed it had shown before. This time, it turned towards Elain, seeing the space opened up by Kia' dodge.

Drozwee had small, pig-like eyes, the face surrounding them twisted in rage or pain, Elain couldn't quite tell which one it was. The snout seemed odd, a small, almost stubby trunk, flapping around while it was running. _Towards me._ The wisps were rushing to her sides, Kia had already began her pursuit, but drowzee would reach her before any of them. A couple of meters separated them when Elain threw the pokeball, more as a delaying tactic than anything else. The red light devoured the pokemon, trapped it at least for the moment, and Kia took her position between the two again, her head lowered.

The ball stopped squirming. The fight was over, and Elain sighed in relief. _The fire probably hurt it more than I had thought._ The flames responsible were dying down in the background, running out of things to burn, throwing uneven shadows across the warehouse. Kia spread her wisps out again, searching for more enemies hidden in the rubble, but nothing else had poked their heads out.

"What the hell," Thomas said, appearing from the same entrance she had used. "What is going on here?"

His muk was nowhere to be seen, but the pokemon's smell clung to him and made her turn away, searching for a deep breath without the stink in the way. "One of them," she said, "was hiding in the middle of some cardboards. Revealed itself when you started yelling and fighting. You okay?"

Thomas wasn't answering and instead stared at the ruins of drowzees's hiding spot, still burning in low flames. "You could've set this whole thing on fire," he said absently. He was walking down the length of the corridor. "None of the embers are spreading so I think we're okay, but..." He shook his head, keeping his thoughts to himself. After a moment he brought his radio to his mouth. "Yeah, it's Thomas. Get me some firefighters to Warehouse C3. Yeah, the vulpix. Small fire, very small risk of spreading. It's under control but I want some water here just in case."

Ugly smoke was rising, gathering under the roof, but opening the narrow, high-sitting windows would take care of that. _Do I argue with him about the fire?_ She felt like explaining herself, that they had gained quite a bit of understanding of how fire spread, how much space she needed between objects she wanted to burn and didn't want to burn, and how far ordinary flames would leap with or without the wind helping it along. _It'll just make me sound like an arsonist, won't it?_ She was kneeling, scratching Kia behind the ear. As always, the pokemon was unconcerned with the aftermath of her attacks. "I took lessons with the firefighters in Azalea," she finally said after some more internal back and forth. The burnt-down field in Bugsy's gym came back to mind, but she dismissed the thought. _That was different. That was a match. We were supposed to put up a fight, and I know what I was doing, even then._

Thomas turned around, away from the fire. "So you're saying you know what you're about." He shook his head again, more a gesture of resignation than anger or denial. "Here's a tip for you. Every time a trainer with a fire type reports to a local ranger station anywhere, they'll tell the nearby firefighters. Standard procedure. You want to know why?" He didn't wait for her answer. "Because there are so many trainers who think they know what they're about, and then set fire to the pokecenter, to a mall, or to some park."

Elain swallowed her first answer, and the second and the third. _He doesn't know you. For him, you're a green trainer with too much confidence who wanted the harder job and ended up nearly starting a firestorm in some warehouses._ "Are we done here, then?" she said, forcing the bitterness out of her voice.

"Got two drowzees and a hypno nearby. With the one you got, that should be it. Go back to the station and grab a bunk for the night." He paused, watching the last of the flames go out. "Guess I'll give you full rate for this."


End file.
